Spinal Fusion Alternatives

Spinal Fusion Surgery—5 Reasons Why Laser Back Surgery Is the Preferred Choice

There are many conditions in which back pain appears to be caused by movement between the vertebrae, or bones in your spinal column. When this happens and conservative treatments do not ease your pain, your doctor may recommend spinal fusion surgery. During spinal fusion surgery, two or more damaged vertebrae are connected together with extra bone tissue (which often comes from a donor site in your own body) plus screws, plates, and other hardware. Once fused, the vertebrae will be immobilized with the goal of reducing pain.

Spinal Fusion Alternative that Can Have You Back to a Normal Life in Less than a Week

One of the main concerns you may have about spinal fusion surgery is the long recovery time. After checking into the hospital for 2-12 hours of spinal fusion surgery, your recovery will likely be a few days of hospitalization followed by months of healing time as your vertebrae adjust to their newly fused positions. Even after your incision and bones heal, you still may not experience relief from your original back pain, since spinal fusion has less than a 50% success rate.

Spinal Fusion Alternative at Laser Spine Institute: Reasons Why You Should Choose LSI

As soon as your doctor recommended spinal fusion as a treatment for your back pain, you probably had concerns about the possible risks of this invasive, open-back operation. The hospital stay, long incision, hours of surgery, and months of recovery time are bad enough to endure, but those are just a few of the many drawbacks of spinal fusion surgery. It also might leave you with limited range of motion, a dangerous infection, and additional damage to surrounding parts of your back or neck.

Spinal Fusion Alternative—Am I a Candidate for Laser Spine Surgery at Laser Spine…

Spinal fusion surgery is one of the most invasive treatments used to relieve back pain. While this treatment can be used in any area of your spinal column—from your neck to your pelvic area—spinal fusion is most often used in the lower spine, also called the lumbar region. The purpose of this surgery is to permanently immobilize two or more vertebrae in your spinal column. It is believed that, by “fusing” certain vertebrae together, you won’t be able to move the painful area(s) of your back and therefore pain will be reduced.

Laminotomy

A Laminotomy is a minimally invasive endoscopic approach to opening the spinal canal.  A laminotomy does not require the use of general anesthesia and it can be performed in a surgical outpatient setting.

Thermal Ablation

Minimally invasive surgical procedures do not require general anesthesia and may be performed in an outpatient surgical setting.  A facet thermal ablation is a minimally invasive laser procedure.

Percutaneous Endoscopic Discectomy

The percutaneous endoscopic discectomy involves a local anaesthetic and a small incision.  A small tube is inserted into the skin through the incision and into the herniated disc space.  The tube allows the surgeon to use various tools such as the laser, camera, suction and other instruments.

Foraminotomy Surgery

The term foraminotomy is derived from two words.  The first being foramen - defined as a natural opening, or a hollow passage, most often through bone, though it can be an opening through other tissue. The second part of this term is otomy, or to cut or incise. 

Conditions Treated With Spinal Fusion Surgery

Most often spinal fusion surgery is used to treat condition of the lumbar spinal region. A spinal fusion can be also used to correct cervical and thoracic problems, although there are conditions that require spinal fusion surgery in the thoracic region of the spine.

Spinal Fusion Surgery

By immobilizing a painful vertebral segment through spinal fusion surgery, the pain that is generated through the join should be decreased.

Spinal Fusion Recovery

Spinal fusion surgery risks are quite similar to other conventional spinal surgeries and should we discussed in detail with your surgeon prior to the surgery.

Spinal Fusion Alternative

When spinal fusion surgery is performed there is a loss of mobility in that particular region of the spine. Because the spine is very mobile when you fuse vertebrae together you cause extreme wear and tear on the vertebrae and discs above and below the area fused.

Conservative Treatments

Before considering Spinal fusion surgery it is best that all conservative methods be explored to their fullest potential.