WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SPINE SURGERY?

Back pain is one of the most common conditions that most of us experience at some point in our lives. It usually occurs due to straining of the muscles, degenerative tissues, herniated disc, sacroiliac joint disease, arthritis, fracture in the lumbar vertebrae etc. and can be experienced in the upper back, mid-back or lower back region. There has been a spurt in the number of people experiencing back pain in recent times due to poor posture and lack of exercise brought about by the modern sedentary lifestyle. A person experiencing back pain for a prolonged period of time must seek medical care from qualified experts.

Fortis Hospitals is a well-known spine surgery hospital in India that is equipped with the necessary facilities to offer top-quality health care services for effective treatment of back pain.

Some of the Common Types of Spinal Surgeries are:

➢ Artificial Disc Replacement: It involves replacing a painful disc that is causing chronic back pain with an artificial disc that provides relief from the pain without compromising the spine’s natural anatomical structure. The artificial disc is similar to the damaged one in structure and also share similar functions.

➢ Cervical Disc Replacement: In this procedure, an artificial disc is inserted between two vertebrae in the neck which act as shock absorbers between the bones of the neck or the cervical spine.

 Lumbar Puncture: A needle is inserted between the two vertebrae to remove a sample of the cerebrospinal fluid in order to diagnose serious infections such as meningitis and other disorders of the central nervous system.

 Diskectomy: A surgical procedure to remove the damaged portion of a herniated disk in the spine.

 Laminectomy: It is a surgery that creates space by removing the lamina, or the back part of the vertebra covering the spinal canal to relieve the pressure on the spinal cord.

 Spinal Fusion: This surgery is done to connect two or more vertebrae in your spine and eliminate the motion between them.

Back pain has many implications and the treatment for it involves a multi-disciplinary approach requiring the collective expertise of specialists from different fields, such as orthopaedics and neurology. Fortis Hospital has carved a name for itself in the domain of brain surgery in India by adopting a holistic technique of treating back pain and other related conditions, which include sharing of knowledge and technical expertise.

Benefits and Risks of Spine Surgery

Surgery is only performed after having tried out a variety of non-surgical treatments to alleviate the back pain. Some of the benefits include:

• better mobility

• improved physical fitness

• reduced need for pain medications

• better productivity

However, spine surgery does have its share of possible risks, such as:

• Bleeding

• Infection

• Nerve damage

• Stroke

• Heart attack

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

This is a modern approach in the field of surgeries, and has considerable benefits compared to the traditional open spine surgery. It involves making minute keyhole incisions in the spinal region and using a laparoscope to examine and treat any abnormalities. The benefits of this advanced technique are:

• smaller incisions lead to reduced blood loss and better cosmetic results

• reduced risk of muscle trauma

• faster recovery and reduced hospital stay

• reduced reliance on pain medications after surgery

Fortis Hospital lives up to its reputation of being one of the foremost neurology hospitals in India owing to its reliance on cutting-edge techniques to solve such type of problems. This technique is also beneficial for treating a host of other conditions cutting across medical specializations.