The spine gives our body stability and strength every time we move around. Plus, the spinal vertebrae (bones) also serve as a protection for our spinal cord. Thus, any problems in our spine must be addressed by an experienced orthopedic surgeon.
Minimally invasive methods will be attempted first to address your pain or debilitating back issues, such as pain injections. If these do not solve the problem, then your orthopedist may perform minimally invasive spine surgery.
Common spine surgical procedures
There are a number of conditions that may lead to spine surgery. Common procedures include:
- Discectomy or Microdiscectomy: Removal of a herniated intervertebral disc. Therefore, removing pressure from the compressed nerve. Microdiscectomy is a MISS procedure.
- Laminectomy: Removal of the thin bony plate on the back of the vertebra called the laminae to increase space within the spinal canal and relieve pressure.
- Laminotomy: Removal of a portion of the vertebral arch (lamina) that covers the spinal cord. A laminotomy removes less bone than a laminectomy.
Both laminectomy and laminotomy are decompression procedures. “Decompression” usually means tissue compressing a spinal nerve is removed.
- Foraminotomy: Removal of bone or tissue at/in the passageway (called the neuroforamen) where nerve roots branch off the spinal cord and exit the spinal column.
- Disc replacement: As an alternative to fusion, the injured disc is replaced with an artificial one.
- Spinal fusion: A surgical technique used to join two vertebrae. Spinal fusion may include the use of bone graft with or without instrumentation (eg, rods, screws). There are different types of bone graft, such as your own bone (autograft) and donor bone (allograft). A fusion can be accomplished by different approaches:
ALIF, PLIF, TLIF, LIF: All pertain to lumbar interbody fusion used to stabilize the spinal vertebrae and eliminate movement between the bones.
- Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion
- Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion
- Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion indicates a surgical approach through the foramen.
- Lateral Interbody Fusion in which the minimally invasive approach is from the side of the body.
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