Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

What is minimally invasive spine surgery?

Minimally invasive spine surgery is an advanced technique that results in less tissue damage during operations on the spine. It’s suitable for procedures like lumbar decompression, spinal fusion, and discectomy, and the use of minimally invasive spine surgery techniques is becoming increasingly widespread.

Traditional open surgery involves making a sizable incision through layers of skin and muscle to give the surgeon a view of the problem in your spine. Minimally invasive techniques use special instrumentation that fits into several much smaller incisions, causing far less tissue damage.

What are the advantages of minimally invasive spine surgery?

Minimally invasive spine surgery has significant advantages compared to open surgery, including:

• Less pain
• Smaller wound
• Lower infection risk
• Less blood loss
• Faster healing
• Shorter hospital stay
• Minimal scarring
• Less downtime

Wherever possible, the team at Birmingham Neurosurgery & Spine Group uses minimally invasive spine surgery techniques because of the numerous benefits for patients.

How is minimally invasive spine surgery carried out?

The team at Birmingham Neurosurgery & Spine Group uses the METRx® System in its minimally invasive spine surgeries. METRx is an innovative collection of dilators and tubes that your surgeon uses to hold muscles apart without having to cut into them.

Your surgeon uses a form of X-ray technology called fluoroscopy to guide their hands throughout the procedure. Fluoroscopy technology shows your surgeon a detailed image of the surgical site on a monitor, so they can carry out complex procedures without needing to see your spine directly. 

Spinal surgeons can also use endoscopes for specific procedures. Endoscopes are flexible tubes fitted with a tiny camera and a light. They pass through small incisions into deeper tissues and send back images to the operating room monitor.

The team at Birmingham Neurosurgery & Spine Group uses the Mazor robotics system to carry out more advanced minimally invasive spine surgery on suitable patients.

What is minimally invasive robotic spine surgery?

Robotic surgery is the most advanced form of minimally invasive spine surgery. The Mazor system carries out preoperative analytics to determine the right approach for the operation, intraoperative guidance throughout the procedure, and real-time 3D verification to show your surgeon a clear image of the surgery site.

When using robotic technology, your surgeon is still in full control. They guide the robotic arms of the Mazor device from a console, so the robot does exactly what the surgeon requires. The advantage is that the robot has far greater dexterity than the human hand, which keeps tissue damage to an absolute minimum.

To find out more about minimally invasive spine surgery, call Birmingham Neurosurgery & Spine Group today.