Cary Orthopaedic Spine Specialists for Raleigh, Durham, Apex, Garner and the Triangle

What is Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery?

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery is a revolutionary approach to treating spinal problems requiring more aggressive measures when all conservative, non-operative measures have failed to alleviate the problem.

Depending on the specific diagnosis and surgical technique used, these minimally invasive spine procedures may be performed either on an inpatient or outpatient basis. Patients are placed under local anesthesia and the repair is performed with minimal muscle disruption. Patients recover much quicker and return to activities at an accelerated rate.

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery is a Great Option for Raleigh, Apex, Garner and Cary Patients

Cary Orthopaedic Spine Specialists is at the leading edge of minimally invasive spine surgery. Most of the minimally invasive spine surgeries performed by surgeons at our Center are done through a few very small incisions resulting in patients experiencing significantly less pain and, depending on the specific surgery, are able to return to their normal activities in a few days to a few weeks. The traditional open surgical approach, which is more commonly used in many settings, involves the use of long incisions and therefore recovery can take many months or up to a year in some instances.

Instrumentation for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

Minimally invasive procedures may include spine, knee, shoulder, hip, and elbow surgery, and are performed using a tool called an endoscope, which is a thin tube that has a tiny video camera on the end of it. The “scope” is inserted through a small portal and is guided to the problem area. Muscles are then expanded apart, rather than incised, and the operation is performed with minimal injury to the surrounding soft tissues. A tiny video camera on the end of the endoscope projects large-scale images of the spine onto a video screen, helping the surgeon to visualize quite easily.

Traditional spine surgery involves much more surgery to accomplish what minimally invasive spine surgery now offers. Utilizing a much smaller incision is only one advantage. Traditional spine surgery requires more separation or retraction of the muscles and surrounding soft tissues to insert instrumentation and any hardware necessary to address the problem. The endoscope, through “Minimal Invasion , avoids this additional trauma. As a result, post operative pain and scarring are significantly lessened. Additional benefits of minimally invasive spine surgery are that patients also require much less anesthesia and hospital stays are dramatically shorter. While open spine surgery requires four to five days of inpatient hospitalization, many patients are able to go home the same day after endoscopic spine surgery.

For more information on how the minimally invasive spine specialists at Cary Orthopaedics can help you, contact us today at 919-297-0000 for an appointment!

Cary Orthopaedics serves patients from Raleigh, Garner, Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Clayton, Chapel Hill, and Pittsboro, NC.