Spine surgery

What is spine surgery?

Spine surgery consists of performing surgery to correct possible structural anomalies.

Back injuries, and more specifically those of the spine, have become a problem that affects more and more people. The passage of time, accidents, overexertion and bad posture in everyday life are the causes of the problem.

Spinal surgery makes it possible to decompress, mobilize the elements, fix vertebral structures and replace them. Back surgery is an option to consider when conservative treatments have not worked and the pain remains persistent and prevents the development of a normal life. There are several types of back surgery:

  • Disectomy: consists of removing the herniated part of the disc to access the inflamed nerve and relieve its irritation.
  • Laminectomy: the bone covering the vertebrae is removed and enlarged to relieve the pressure caused by stenosis.
  • Fusion: Spinal fusion consists mainly in joining two bones -or more- of the spine. This can relieve pain by giving stability to a fracture or simply to eliminate pain that starts with the movement of the vertebrae, which may degenerate or injure one of the vertebral discs.
  • Disc implant: as an alternative to fusion is the implant of a disc, although it cannot be used in all people.

Why is spine surgery performed?

Spine surgery is performed to correct spinal pathologies that cause pain in the patient. Back surgery is used to relieve the pain and/or numbness associated with back pain, which often radiates to other areas of the back, arms and legs.

Normally, the origin of back and spine pain lies in the compression of a nerve within the spine. Nerves can be compressed for various reasons. An example would be disc problems, such as a herniated disc, which can end up pressing a vertebra too hard against the nerve. Sometimes, osteoarthritis generates an excess of bone in the spine.

What is spine surgery?

There are different options to intervene the spine. They are the following:

Fusion

Fusion or vertebral arthrodesis is normally used in the following cases:

  • There is instability, which may be caused by various causes, such as scoliosis or spondylolisthesis. In these cases an excess of mobility in the spine is observed.
  • Arthrosic pain due to hypertrophic arthrotic joints.
  • Deformities: when there is a deformity, for example caused by scoliosis.
  • Vertebral stenosis
  • Anterior cervical fusion: used to treat degenerative disc disease. Bone grafts are used to fuse the treated segment.
  • Cervical posterior approach fusion:
  • Lumbar posterior approach fusion.

Surgical techniques

  • Percutaneous techniques: These are injections or techniques such as radiofrequency denervation that seeks to relieve lumbar and cervical pain.
  • Electrodermal therapy
  • Vertebroplasty: mainly consists of increasing the intraosseous space of a vertebra by means of an injection of bone cement to add vertebral stability.
Read Now 👉  Venous ulcer

Decompression techniques

  • Microdiscectomy: used to remove herniated fragments of the intervertebral disc. One of the most commonly used procedures in spine surgery is microdiscectomy with lumbar microdecompression.
  • Micrordecompression: used to treat canal stenosis.

Preparation for spinal surgery

The patient is usually admitted to the hospital or health center where the operation will be performed one day before undergoing it. The anesthesia tests, as well as the physical examination and the preoperative examination, will already be done at the time the patient is admitted.

The patient should not eat or drink anything for at least twelve hours before the start of the surgery. Apart from basic aspects, spinal surgery does not require special preparation, although you should be prepared to face the weeks of recovery, in which you may need the help of a family member or companion to gradually get used to performing activities.

Spine surgery repairs anomalies of the spine.

Care after spine surgery

Normally, the patient will remain hospitalized under observation for several days, and once he/she returns home, he/she will have to face his/her recovery.

It is important to keep the wound clean and follow the instructions or recommendations provided by the specialist. In the event that the patient has undergone a discectomy, it is common for the patient to feel pain or weakness, although recovery is rapid and the symptoms should improve significantly one or two weeks after the intervention.

In cases of fusion surgery, recovery is more complicated, since the patient will have to remain at least at rest and without recovering from daily activity for at least three or four months, and bone healing may take more than a year to complete.

If the patient has undergone spinal arthrodesis, he/she will have to rest and not perform daily activities for about two months.

Alternatives to spine surgery

Nowadays there are several options to intervene the spine. In the surgical case, the main alternative to conventional spine surgery is surgery using minimally invasive techniques.

These minimally invasive surgical techniques allow access to the spine through tiny incisions that barely damage the tissue to be treated and the surrounding tissue. Minimally invasive spine techniques obtain great results by minimizing the level of surgical aggression and offering the patient a shorter and less painful postoperative period.

At the same time, there are other more conservative methods to treat spinal problems. Some are based on a combination of pain-reducing medications that are accompanied by occupational therapies and physiotherapy exercises to strengthen the area.

Other treatments such as transcutaneous stimulation, radiofrequency denervation or spinal neurostimulation can alleviate chronic spinal problems and pain.