If you need surgery to repair a problem with your spine, you owe it to yourself to learn about minimally invasive spinal surgery. Board-certified neurosurgeon Randolph Bishop, MD, Kelli Hendley, FNP, and the team at Neurosurgical Solutions have years of experience easing back pain and restoring spinal mobility with minimally invasive spinal surgery. With this type of surgery, you may go home the same day, have less pain, and recover more quickly. To learn if you’re a good candidate, call the office in Savannah, Georgia, or request an appointment online today.
Minimally invasive spinal surgery is different from conventional open surgery in two significant ways: the size of the incision and the overall tissue damage that occurs. To perform minimally invasive surgery, Dr. Bishop makes a tiny incision (less than one inch) and doesn’t cut the supporting muscles in the area.
Instead of cutting the muscles, Dr. Bishop uses a round retractor. He guides the device between the muscle fibers and then gently separates the fibers, creating an opening just large enough to accommodate a slim endoscope.
The endoscope provides lighting and sends a magnified image to a monitor. Then Dr. Bishop passes tools through the endoscope to perform your surgery. After he finishes the procedure, he removes the retractor, and the tissues go back into place.
Minimally invasive spinal surgery causes significantly less damage to the tissues. As a result, this technique offers several advantages over open spinal surgery, including:
Another big advantage of minimally invasive spinal surgery is that it’s often an outpatient procedure. If you do need to stay in the hospital, you’ll be discharged much sooner compared with the stay after open surgery.
Wide-ranging spine conditions are suitable for minimally invasive spinal surgery, including:
Most people are good candidates for minimally invasive spinal surgery. Dr. Bishop explains your options during your consultation.
With very few exceptions, most procedures that once required open spinal surgery can now be done with minimally invasive surgery. Dr. Bishop frequently performs:
These procedures relieve your pain and restore spinal mobility by decompressing nerves, removing damaged discs, fusing bones, and repairing compression fractures.
To learn if you’re a good candidate for minimally invasive spinal surgery, call Neurosurgical Solutions or book an appointment online today.
