Minimally invasive surgery on the spine is a surgical treatment of the structures and bones around the spine. Specially trained doctors who provide this kind of treatment use small incisions to access and treat the affected area instead of traditional open surgery. It is an excellent alternative to open-surgical treatments and offers many benefits. For example, it reduces blood loss during treatment, reduces pain, and leaves less damage and scarring on the surrounding tissues. Also, it minimizes the time you need to remain in the hospital after treatment.
However, you must carefully select a doctor with knowledge and experience for this treatment if you have a spine-related problem in Nevada. That way, you will enjoy a safe and successful treatment process. You must also consult well with a competent Nevada minimally invasive spine surgery expert before making the final decision. You can talk to our skilled professionals in LAMIS for more information and your treatment options.
What Nevada Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Entails
Spine disorders are some of the most severe issues in the history of medicine. A complicated spine disorder can incapacitate your body, making it impossible for you to perform some of the tasks you initially performed with ease. The good news is that doctors have always had a treatment solution for most spine disorders. Open surgery has always been the traditional treatment for most of these disorders. However, medical experts have come up with a new and better alternative to the traditional surgical treatment for various kinds of spine disorders. Minimally invasive surgery is slowly gaining popularity as people seek alternative treatments that are safer, less painful, less invasive, and more effective.
If you visit your doctor with a spine disorder, they can recommend open-spine surgery or minimally invasive surgery. The latter entails performing small incisions around the problematic area. Thus, the treatment does less damage to your tissues and muscles. Once they make little incisions on your back, the surgeon will insert a retractor to tunnel the affected part. The doctor will use that tunnel to pass the instruments they need to work on the problem on your back. Minimally invasive surgery works very well to treat various spine-related complications.
This type of treatment aims to achieve the following:
- To decompress the spine, the surgeon removes any tissues that could compress your spine’s nerve structures. Examples of problems that could result in compression are bone fragments and herniated discs.
- To create stability in your spine segments. When there is an abnormal shift in several spine segments, you can experience an ache in the back and neck areas. The surgeon can perform this procedure to reduce movements in your spine area.
Skilled surgeons use minimally invasive surgery to perform various treatment procedures. Examples include foraminotomy, microdisectomy, microdisectomy, and microlaminectomy. This treatment process is becoming more popular daily for its benefits. But, doctors cannot recommend it for everyone who has a spine-related disorder. That is why you must consult a spine surgeon when you experience back pain or have been diagnosed with a spine-related complication. Your doctor will first examine you to recommend the best, safest, and most effective treatment. Mostly, doctors recommend surgery as the last alternative when all medications and therapies have failed to produce the desired results.
Spine Disorders You Can Treat With Minimally Invasive Surgery
If you qualify for treatment using minimally invasive surgery, you will enjoy several benefits, including reduced pain and a shorter stay in the hospital. Here are some spine conditions a skilled minimally invasive spine surgeon will recommend treatment for:
Degenerative Disc Disorder
The complication starts minimally and develops slowly, affecting your intervertebral discs. It is widespread in older adults due to the lost flexibility and stiffened discs related to old age. The changes in the structures caused by this disorder result in disc herniation, which can be corrected with minimally invasive surgery.
Sciatica Symptoms
These are the wide range of symptoms you experience when there is compression in your sciatica nerve. This nerve runs through the buttocks, from the leg to the neck. When the nerve is impacted, you will experience numbness and pain. Your doctor can recommend this treatment to relieve the nerve pain of the compression, thereby relieving you of the related symptoms.
Herniated Discs
A herniated or ruptured disc happens when the liquid in your disc's inner core ruptures and spreads to an outer layer. This leaking gel causes damage to those discs and could result in irritation and inflammation of your spinal nerves. That results in excruciating pain in the back.
Spinal Stenosis
It is a disorder that causes your spinal canal and several nerve passageways to narrow. The condition is also widespread in older adults. It results in pain, tingling sensations, and numbness in the affected region.
Spinal Deformities
A deformity on your spine could result from an abnormal curve in your spine, which varies in size and shape. A typical spinal curve occurs naturally at various column points in the spine. However, the curve is inconsistent with spinal deformities and can impact your balance and flexibility.
Spinal Infections
In most instances, infections in the spine develop after surgical treatment. An infection can affect various areas in and around your spine, including your vertebral disc. After an examination, your doctor can diagnose and start treatment for a spinal infection. But before that, you will experience pain, even if you have not been injured. Pain always indicates that something is not right with or around your spine.
Vertebral Compression Fractures
A fracture in your vertebral compression could occur after trauma or severe injury to your back or when you have osteoporosis. The main symptom after the fracture would be sudden and excruciating back pain. Fortunately, surgeons can resolve his problem with minimally invasive surgical treatments.
Spondylolisthesis
It is a disorder that happens when one of your vertebrae (at the top) slides over another (below it). The severity of this spinal condition mainly depends on the gravity of that slide.
How The Treatment Process is Like
If you are experiencing symptoms of a spine-related condition or have already been diagnosed with a spine problem, it helps to understand the treatment process you will likely go through. A skilled surgeon offering quality Nevada minimally invasive spine surgery is the right person to talk to. Remember that your spine discs, vertebrae, and nerves run deeply in your body. A doctor would require you to move your muscles to reach them for treatment. Surgeons who perform minimally invasive surgeries must make minimal incisions around the affected part to create tunnels through which they can guide their treatment instruments. These surgeons use many techniques to minimize trauma during this treatment process.
For example, they use tubular retractors to dilate tissues in your back to gain muscle access. During this process, the doctor uses small tubes to keep the muscles in position and above your spine. Sometimes, they use endoscopes focused on the tubes for easier and more effective access. The surgeon removes the retractor once they complete the treatment process, allowing the structures and tissues to resume their usual positions.
Also, surgeons use rods and screws to stabilize your spine and allow for bone fusion. However, these are used in some cases, depending on the underlying condition. With traditional surgical treatments, the use of screws would require extensive interference with your spine muscles. But with minimally invasive treatment, the doctor only needs to make a minimal incision through which they can insert the screws without interfering with the muscles. Additionally, surgeons use X-rays to guide treatment instruments like wires to the vertebrae through the skin. When the rods and screws are in position, the doctor removes the guiding wires to complete the treatment.
Other times, a Nevada minimally invasive spine surgery expert can use direct lateral routes to reach the treatment site. If the condition affects the lumbar spine, the doctor will minimize your pain by creating access points from the side of your body. Typically, creating lateral routes involves accessing the treatment site from your body’s side, where they are less likely to encounter muscle blockage. The surgeon will perform this procedure as you lie on your side.
The surgeon could also need to create thoracoscopic routes to reach the treatment site. Their recommendation depends on the exact spine condition you have and the best possible treatment for it. If your doctor feels a reasonable need to reach the treatment site through the thorax, they will create thoracoscopic routes on the front of your thorax. Traditional spine surgical treatment involves opening up the chest through an incision that could result in removing some of your ribs. However, this minimally invasive treatment through the thorax involves creating small cuts through which the doctor can insert cameras to view and treat the affected parts.
Reasons to Choose Nevada Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Surgical treatment is usually the last resort after all treatments, medications, and therapies have failed to produce the desired results. This is because it presents several risk factors to the patient, especially spine surgery. The effect of a spine surgery could linger for a very long time, impacting your general well-being. Fortunately, advanced medical technology has brought about several other options that are a lot safer and more effective for patients requiring spine surgery. Minimally invasive surgery has been accepted by doctors and patients for several reasons. Here are some of the benefits that make it a better treatment option than traditional open surgery:
Reduced Risk of Complications
The thought of undergoing spine surgery is terrifying for many patients because of the risk of complications associated with it. Minimally invasive surgery reduces this risk, giving you and your doctor the peace of mind you need to undergo treatment with minimal worries. The procedure involves creating minimal incisions on the skin to reach the treatment site, which is less invasive and complicated than an open surgery. It does not put your inner structures, which are very sensitive, at risk of exposure. The treatment also reduces blood loss, risk of infections, and muscle damage.
It is Cosmetically Pleasing
Surgical treatment will leave you with deep and significant scarring that remains on your skin for a long time. Many people are unhappy with that as it affects their self-image and self-esteem. Minimally invasive surgery leaves minimal scarring on the skin, which can fade with time. You will no longer worry about scars on your back that affect how you feel about your body.
Easier and Quicker Recovery
The scars you obtain from a minimally invasive surgery heal faster than those from an open spine surgery. It means your recovery after a minimally invasive surgery is quicker and easier. No one fancies extended hospital stays, which is inevitable when you go through surgical treatment. But you will likely return to your life faster after a minimally invasive procedure. Doctors perform some of these procedures in an outpatient setting, which does not require hospitalization.
This also saves you much money since you do not need to pay for hospital visits and specialized care after treatment.
The Treatment is Less Traumatic
Some people experience trauma after undergoing an invasive treatment process, like an open spine surgery. They carry this trauma with them for the rest of their life, which affects various aspects of their life, including their social and professional lives. A minimally invasive surgical procedure does not expose you to trauma. It is a simple procedure that takes minimal time and less invasion into your body. The process does not leave you experiencing more pain, which reduces the risk of trauma.
It Requires Less Anesthesia
Some people do not react very well to anesthesia, which is needed for open spine surgeries. Severe reactions to anesthesia can cause long-term complications. But you need less anesthesia for a minimally invasive spine treatment. It means that the risk of complications is lower.
Find Competent Nevada Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Service Near Me
Do you or someone you know require spine surgery in Nevada?
Traditional open-spine surgery comes with a lot of complications and health risks that could impact your general well-being for life. That is why you should consider minimally invasive surgery. But you need a doctor’s recommendation after a thorough examination and review of your treatment history.
We conduct in-depth exams at LAMIS before suggesting treatment options for our patients. Our surgeons have the knowledge and experience to successfully take you through minimally invasive surgery to treat the spine condition you have. Call us at 310-734-6088 for more information about our services.
