Back Surgery
Spinal Operations Offered
• Artificial Disc Implantation• Cervical Discectomy
• Cervical Discectomy with Fusion
• Disc Degeneration Treatments
• Disc Surgery
• Discectomy
• Fusion
• Herniated Disc Treatments
• Laminectomy + Posterior Instrumentation
• Laminectomy for excision of Spinal Tumors
• Decompressive Laminectomy
• Open Discectomy
• Stenosis Treatments
Spinal fusion (arthrodesis)
Spinal fusion (arthrodesis) is a surgical procedure that joins, or fuses, two or more vertebrae. Spinal fusion is major surgery, usually lasting several hours. There are different methods of spinal fusion.
" Bone is taken from the pelvic bone or obtained from a bone bank. The bone is used to make a bridge between adjacent vertebrae. This bone graft stimulates the growth of new bone.
" Metal implants are secured to the vertebrae to hold them together until new bone grows between them
Lumbar Spinal Stenosis - Topic Overview
What is lumbar spinal stenosis?
Spinal stenosis is narrowing of the spinal canal that occurs when excessive growth of bone and/or tissue reduces the size of the openings in the spinal bones. This narrowing can squeeze and irritate the nerve roots that branch out from the spinal cord, or it can squeeze and irritate the spinal cord itself. This may cause pain, numbness, or weakness, most often in the legs, feet, and buttocks.
Spinal stenosis occurs most often in the lower back (lumbar) area. When it occurs in the neck (cervical) area, the spinal cord may become squeezed, which if untreated can lead to nerve damage and paralysis. This topic is about lumbar spinal stenosis. If you need information on spinal stenosis of the neck, see the topic Cervical Spinal Stenosis.
How is it treated?
In mild to moderate cases, symptoms can usually be controlled using medication to relieve pain, exercise to maintain strength and flexibility, physical therapy, or injections of medications (corticosteroids) that reduce inflammation.
Severe symptoms that are getting worse or restrict normal daily activities usually will not improve with nonsurgical therapy and may require surgery. In these cases, surgery to remove bone and tissue that are squeezing the spinal cord (decompressive laminectomy) can help relieve leg pain and allow you to resume normal daily activities.
Decompressive laminectomy for spinal stenosis
Decompressive laminectomy is the most common type of surgery done to treat spinal stenosis. This surgery is done to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or spinal nerve roots caused by age-related changes in the spine and to treat other conditions, such as injuries to the spine, herniated discs, or tumors. In many cases, reducing pressure on the nerve roots can relieve pain and allow you to resume normal daily activities.
Laminectomy removes bone (parts of the vertebrae) and/or thickened tissue that is narrowing the spinal canal and squeezing the spinal cord and nerve roots. This procedure is done by surgically cutting into the back.
