The spine strengthens and anchors the body. However, it is susceptible to illness and damage. When you develop spine complications, the idea of spinal cord surgery can be scary because of excessive bleeding, large incisions, and scarring on the surgery site. Thankfully, minimally invasive spine surgery, abbreviated as MISS, has revolutionized spine surgery. The procedure uses tiny cuts and specialized procedures to minimize muscle damage and general trauma, leading to fast healing, minimal pain, and fewer complications.
Several MISS techniques exist, and it is crucial to understand the procedure to reduce anxiety. If you are interested in a North Dakota minimally invasive spine surgery, you should talk to LAMIS for an examination to determine your candidacy.
North Dakota Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery at a Glance
Spine issues are historically known to be severe health conditions. A severe back problem leads to incapacitation, making it impossible to engage in routines. For a long time, open back surgery has been used to address these back problems, but because of its complications, many patients have been discouraged from seeking treatment.
Thankfully, spine surgery has seen many innovations, MISS being one of them. The technique involves using tiny cuts rather than open surgery on the muscle. Image guidance is used to increase the accuracy and effectiveness of the treatment. With this innovation, many patients seek MISS to address their back problems.
When you see your North Dakota minimally invasive spine surgery professional for treatment, they will make a tiny cut on the pathological site and then utilize unique retractors to dilate muscle. Doing so helps prevent muscle dissection, minimizes bleeding, and minimizes damage to nearby soft tissue. Opting for the procedure offers several advantages, including less post-surgery pain, a reduced hospital stay, and a faster recovery.
Comparatively, the least invasive back surgery entails smaller incisions than open surgery, meaning minimal soft tissue damage, low bleeding, and less soft tissue damage. The minor cuts also mean that the possibility of infection is minimal, and there is less scarring.
However, open spine surgery could be necessary for sophisticated back surgeries. Your neurointerventional specialist will also recommend open surgery for conditions that need extensive manipulation or visualization. Open or traditional backbone operations have a proven and successful record of addressing particular conditions.
North Dakota Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Types
MISS surgery encompasses many techniques. The techniques keep changing, but the most recent ones include:
Corpectomy Technique
When you have a compressed spine and nerve pressure, your neurointerventionist recommends a corpectomy to alleviate the compression and pressure. The technique involves the extraction of part of or the entire vertebral body. The nerve pressure usually stems from:
- Fractures
- Stenosis
- Spinal tumors
- Lumbar area infection
- Thoracic spine infection
- Cervical spine infections
Your doctor will extract the discs over and beneath the vertebral area or even the middle bone.
The spine could weaken after removing the affected structure, so a bone graft follows the corpectomy technique to increase stability. An experienced neurointerventionist can incorporate MISS into a corpectomy procedure for a quick recovery.
Discectomy Technique
When you suffer from a compressed nerve root, sciatica, bone spur, or radiculopathy, your neurointerventional surgeon can use a discectomy technique to extract the disc material, compressing the nerve roots or the backbone.
Least invasive discectomy procedures utilize unique retractors and endoscopes to view and manipulate the fractured disc material. By adopting MISS, your surgeon ensures quick healing and minimal postoperative pain compared to open surgery.
Foraminotomy Technique
Another procedure that treats herniated discs, bone spurs, and stenosis is foraminotomy. The procedure entails widening the section where the nerves exit the spinal canal. Minimally invasive techniques can be incorporated into foraminotomies.
Cyberknife Radiosurgery
Patients suffering from spinal tumors can benefit from cyberknife radiosurgery. The treatment is minimally invasive and virtually painless. Cyberknife radiosurgery utilizes the latest technology, like computers, endoscopes, and high-powered radiation beams, to remove spinal tumors. Radiosurgery reduces damage to the surrounding tissue by limiting radiation exposure to the nearby healthy tissue.
Laminectomy Procedure
Patients who suffer from stenosis, fractured discs, or spine spurs can undergo laminectomy to extract the lamina protecting the spinal canal. The procedure can be conducted at any spine level through the least invasive back surgery. Patients with one or two levels of lumbar stenosis can undergo the treatment and go home on the same day.
Preparing for MISS
The least invasive spine operation is not for everyone with back problems. You must undergo a thorough health examination in your North Dakota minimally invasive spine surgery expert’s office to determine your qualification for this treatment. After the examination, the surgeon determines the type of MIS operation suitable for your back problems.
Even though MIS surgery offers several advantages over traditional back surgery, your doctor could recommend conventional open surgery to address your problem if the back concerns cannot be rectified using MISS.
Back problems that your neurosurgeon can address through an MIS operation include:
- Pinched nerve
- Spinal stenosis
- Chronic pain
- Spinal tumor
- Spinal infection
- Scoliosis
- Failed spine surgery syndrome
- Herniated disc
- Degenerative disc disease
- Compression fractures
When you suffer from these back problems, your surgeon can recommend a MIS operation to arrest them. Before undergoing the North Dakota MIS surgery, you must take several steps.
First, before the surgery, ensure your doctor knows all the treatments you are currently using so that, when necessary, they can discontinue some of them if they are unnecessary and likely to interfere with the anesthesia and additional medications they will prescribe after the spine operation.
For cigarette smokers, quitting before the surgery is encouraged for quicker healing. Smoking weakens the immune system, delaying healing and increasing the possibility of infection. Therefore, if you pause smoking weeks or months before the surgery, you could experience a quicker recovery and fewer complications. However, it is not easy to stop smoking, so you should speak to your doctor to furnish you with the information you need to stop the habit.
Lastly, exercise regularly to preserve your physical health and muscle mass. This will encourage you to heal quickly and remain fit after treatment.
You should know that, as part of the preparations for the surgery, your doctor will conduct imaging tests like CT and MRI scans to identify the spine problem and develop a treatment plan. Blood tests will also be necessary to help establish your eligibility. They will also administer antibiotics before and after the procedure to lower the chances of infection. Part of the preparation involves advice on the diet you should stick to before the surgery.
Discuss the Benefits and Disadvantages of the Procedure
Before the spine operation, it is essential to discuss the advantages and downsides of the treatment to ensure you are qualified for it and that you prefer it over the open-back operation. The benefits of MISS are:
-
Low Risk of Complications
Undergoing spine surgery is scary because of the risks involved. Nevertheless, with MIS operations, the chances of complications are minimal, giving you the confidence you require to pursue the treatment. Also, the treatment is the least invasive and straightforward because of advanced technology involving minor cuts. So, no significant scarring, blood loss, or muscle damage exists.
-
The Treatment is Aesthetically Appealing
After an open back surgery, you will likely have large scars on the surgery site that will be visible for many years, affecting your image and self-esteem. This could lower your quality of life and happiness. However, when you undergo an MIS operation, the scarring on your skin is minimal and often fades away quickly. You will not be conscious of your appearance, and this will boost your confidence.
-
Quick Healing
Comparatively, open back surgery takes longer to heal than MISS. Healing in MISS is quick because the scars are minor, and the trauma is minimal. However, with traditional back surgery, you should expect an extended hospital stay, which is ordinarily uncomfortable and can discourage you from seeking treatment.
With a MIS operation, you only require a few days to heal, and you will be free to go. With some procedures, you can even go home on the same day of the treatment and resume your routines in a few days.
Some procedures can even be carried out on an outpatient basis, eliminating hospitalization. That way, you will save money and avoid follow-up visits to the hospital that consume your money and time.
-
It Involves Less Trauma
Open-back surgery is associated with trauma. The trauma you develop during the treatment can affect various aspects of your life, including your social life and career. Nevertheless, with MISS, trauma is unlikely as the surgery is the least invasive and simple, lowering the chances of developing trauma.
Unfortunately, like any other spine operation, MISS has its risks. The general risks of the treatment are:
- You could develop an infection at the incision area, although the chances are lower compared to those of open surgery
- Sometimes, blood loss occurs
- You could suffer adverse reactions to anesthesia
- You could experience blood clots in the legs that result in pulmonary embolism
The risks that apply to MISS alone are:
- Possible nerve root or spine injuries based on the technique used could lead to weakness or paralysis.
- Tearing the dura, or the spine covering, leads to neurological complications.
- Spinal implant shift or malfunctioning
- Failure to reduce or eliminate the back pain after surgery
Discussing these benefits and risks with your surgeon is crucial to deciding whether the treatment is appropriate.
Individuals Ineligible for North Dakota MISS
Not every patient with back issues can benefit from MISS, meaning that in some cases, your surgeon could recommend traditional back surgery. Open surgery is required, depending on the severity of the injury to the spine. Therefore, when suffering from chronic infection, severe epidural scars, or osteoporosis, you should go for open surgery or conservative treatment over MISS. Other instances in which your doctor will rule you out of MISS treatment include:
You are Highly Responsive to Conservative Procedures
Before recommending the least invasive surgery, doctors explore conservative treatments. Some patients experiencing back and neck concerns respond well to injections, physical therapy (PT), and medication, eliminating surgery, which is expensive and has a high risk of complications.
Sadly, not all patients respond well to conservative remedies, allowing doctors to use MISS as a plan B.
Certain Senior Citizens
Spine surgery is not advisable for older people, as their bodies take longer to heal, even with MISS. Most senior citizens have weak immune systems and underlying chronic diseases. Therefore, the chances of complications are high after spine surgery, making them ineligible for MISS. Doctors encourage senior citizens to seek non-surgical treatments like injections and PT.
Patients Susceptible to Infections
Like open surgery, MISS has some risks of infection, so surgeons try to disinfect the pathological area before surgery. Nevertheless, it is challenging to protect yourself from infections entirely. So, when you suffer from a condition that increases your risk of developing an infection after surgery, your doctor will rule you out of MISS and opt for non-surgical remedies.
Every patient is unique; the appropriate treatment depends on age, overall health, and preference. Your surgeon should discuss the benefits and risks of all the available treatment options to enable you to decide on the appropriate procedure.
The Actual Surgery
If you are scheduled for a North Dakota minimally invasive spine surgery, you will be wondering what to expect during the day of the procedure. Typically, a neurointerventionist performs the treatment with the assistance of a competent medical team. The steps during the surgery differ depending on the spinal concern you seek to address.
Your surgeon starts by administering anesthesia to numb the operation site. The doctor will also administer sedatives to relax muscles during treatment. They can also use general anesthesia to keep you unconscious for the entire treatment period. On the other hand, local anesthesia only numbs the surgery site, hence the reason surgeons combine it with sedation.
Next, the medical team will place your face on a surgical table. Guided by imaging technology, the surgeon will make a tiny incision on the back and use special retractors to dilate the tissue, forming a narrow channel to access the backbone.
Using an endoscope and other special tools, the surgeon decompresses the spine or nerves, stabilizes the spine, or removes tumors. Once the surgery is done, the retractors are removed.
Find a Profound Neurointerventional Expert Near Me
When conventional treatments like PT, drugs, and therapy fail to address spine problems, your North Dakota minimally invasive spine surgery professional at LAMIS will recommend an MIS operation. Contact us at 310-734-6088 for an evaluation and to discuss your candidacy. Our surgeons will conduct a comprehensive examination to identify the spine problem and recommend the appropriate MISS treatment.
