Canal stenosis occurs when the space surrounding the spinal cord is reduced. This creates pressure that can cause the following symptoms:
- Weakness in the legs
- Numbness and pain (sciatica) radiating from the lower back into the buttock and legs.
Its symptoms develop slowly over time and may come and go. It is often the result of the normal aging process.
What is endoscopic surgery for canal stenosis?
Lumbar spinal canal stenosis is one of the most commonly performed surgeries using minimally invasive techniques such as endoscopic surgery.
Lumbar spinal stenosis surgery is specifically suited for patients who have problems in their day-to-day life due to pain and weakness. The walking difficulties of patients with this type of pathology is one of the reasons why surgery is performed: the search for an improvement in quality of life.
This is the case of one of our most recent patients who comes for the first time to the office for a picture of pain with inability to ambulation by this pain for years.
This is an 82 year old patient who about 8 years ago began to have problems walking. At 100m, even with crutches, he lost sensation from the waist down. Diagnosed with severe canal stenosis with cauda equina, he underwent spinal surgery by endoscopic surgery. The patient, after surgery performed by endoscopic techniques, was discharged the following day and recovered the lost mobility without numbness. It is a clear example that there is no age to recover health.
What does the technique consist of?
Endoscopic spine surgery, or minimally invasive spine surgery, consists of trying to apply the same principles as open surgery, but with the least possible aggression to the patient’s structures. For this purpose, an optic is introduced through a cannula after making a small incision of about 15 mm. This optic makes it possible to enlarge and magnify the working field in order to access the affected area. Therefore, the aggression to the patient is minimal since a large dissection is not performed.
The professional area of the website includes a presentation of the case, radiographs, video of the operation and patient testimony.
Here we can listen to the testimony of a patient of Dr. Marqués, who underwent endoscopic spinal surgery to treat her canal stenosis:
What are the advantages over other techniques?
In the case of our patient, who is 82 years old, two of the main advantages of endoscopic surgery are:
- Lower risk, due to the elimination of the age and physical condition limit that open or conventional surgery may entail.
- Minimal aggression to the patient’s structures, since less damage is done to the surrounding soft tissues.
In addition to those already mentioned, there are numerous advantages over conventional surgical techniques. We can point out the following:
- Small incisions, with reduced trauma to the muscular tissues, which results in a reduction in the rate of infections. Thanks to its much smaller incisions, there is less pain and a faster recovery.
- Short hospitalization. Hospitalization for endoscopic surgery is much shorter than for conventional procedures because complications are reduced to a minimum.
- Shorter convalescence time since both bleeding and postoperative pain are minimized, which translates into a faster recovery and almost immediate resumption of activities.
- Better aesthetic result. Much smaller scars. The scar does not exceed 1.5 – 2 centimeters.
For more information, consult a specialist in traumatology.