Minimally Invasive Spine Fusion

Invasive Spinal fusion is a minimally invasive back procedure that is done by spine surgeons where two or more bones are fused or joined together so there is no movement between them.

With the help of spinal fusion a patient gets respite from his pain that happens due to the painful motion of the bones that are medically known as vertebrae.

This surgical procedure is often done combination with other surgical procedures. For example, spine fusion is often done in combination with laminectomy or foraminotomy which are done for spinal stenosis or maybe after diskectomy in the neck.

Open vs. Minimally Invasive Spine Fusion

Minimally invasive spine fusion is conducted for problems like spinal bones fracture or injury, spinal infection or tumors, spondylolisthesis, scoliosis, kyphosis, spinal stenosis and arthritis of the spine. With technology advancing every day these days spine fusion is done using minimally invasive techniques.

Minimally invasive technique has a lot of advantages over traditional open surgery technique. The most important advantage is that MISS does not require one large and deep incision but a few smaller ones that causes less muscle damage around the spine.

The biggest disadvantages of open surgery is fear of infection, more bleeding as well as longer healing and recovery time. With minimally invasive surgery all these problems do not occur. A patient who has had a minimally invasive back operation, the patient gets less post-operative pain, there is significantly less risk of bleeding and infection and the patient heals as well as recovers faster.

 Minimally Invasive Spinal Fusion Recovery

After surgery the patient is kept under observation and is kept in a rigorous therapy program for almost 12 weeks. In the first post-operative week the patient is advised to walk. However, severe and strenuous work like heavy lifting and bending are prohibited in the first 2-4 months.