Spine/ Back and Neck Surgery
Back surgery helps relieve some causes of back and neck pain, but it’s rarely necessary. Most back pain resolves on its own within three months.
Your MMG Neurosurgeon may recommend back or neck surgery if more conservative treatments do not help and you have:
- Spinal stenosis compressing the spinal nerves
- A herniated spinal disk
- Neck and back pain which causes pain or numbness that goes down one or both arms or legs
- Spondylolysis (a defect)
- Spinal deformities (like scoliosis)
- Spinal instability
- Removal of a tumor in the spine
- Pinched nerve
Different types of back and neck surgery include:
- Discectomy
- Laminectomy
- Fusion
- Artificial disks
- Laminotomy
- Foraminotomy
Spinal fractures
When a vertebra is fractured, bone fragments may pinch and damage the spinal nerves or spinal cord. Most spinal fractures occur from injuries. The results can affect you mildly or cause debilitating spinal cord damage. Often fractures heal without invasive treatment. Severe fractures, however, may need surgery to realign the bones.
Epidural Steroid Injections
An epidural steroid injection (ESI) is the delivery of powerful anti-inflammatory medicine directly into the space outside of the sac of fluid around your spinal cord. This area is called the epidural space.Your doctor may recommend ESI if you have pain that spreads from the lower spine to the hips or down the leg. This pain is caused by pressure on a nerve as it leaves the spine, most often due to a bulging disk. ESI is used only when your pain has not improved with medicines, physical therapy, or other nonsurgical treatments.
Minimally Invasive Back Surgery
When back surgery is needed, your MMG Neurosurgeon will perform Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery if possible. We are proud to offer minimally invasive surgical methods at Comanche County Memorial Hospital. Not all hospitals are equipped for Minimally Invasive Surgery. This type of surgery uses smaller incisions and often causes less harm to nearby tissues and muscles. The goals of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery are less pain and faster recovery. Some of the types of surgeries your MMG Neurosurgeon may perform using minimally invasive methods include laminectomy, lumbar discectomy and spinal fusion.
Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion
Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is a surgical procedure your MMG Neurosurgeon may use to remove a herniated or degenerative disc in the neck. To reach and remove the disc, your surgeon makes an incision in the throat area. He or she then inserts a graft to fuse together the bones above and below the disc. Your surgeon may recommend ACDF surgery if medications or physical therapy fail to relieve your arm or neck pain caused by pinched nerves.
Cervical laminectomy
Your MMG Neurosurgeon may recommend a cervical laminectomy if you have cervical spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the cervical spinal canal. The cervical spine is the area of the vertebral column commonly known as the neck. Stenosis may be caused by a number of degenerative spine conditions, including wear and tear on the discs, bones and ligaments. A narrow spinal canal compresses the spinal cord and surrounding nerves. Compression may irritate a spinal nerve or nerves, causing radiculopathy. *link
Laminectomy is a surgical procedure in which your MMG Neurosurgeon will remove the lamina. The lamina is the back part of a vertebra that covers your spinal canal. Laminectomy enlarges your spinal canal and relieves pressure on the nerves or spinal cord.