It's estimated that 80% of people will experience back pain at some point in their lives. In most cases, symptoms will disappear in 6-8 weeks regardless of whether or not the person seeks professional help. However, 80% of those individuals will experience a recurrence of debilitating pain. Just by looking at those statistics, it's clear that back pain is a serious problem.
Effective treatment is important because it helps return these people back to the workforce and more importantly, restores their quality of life. Spinal fusion and laser spine surgery are two of the most commonly recommended treatments for moderate to severe back pain. Read on to learn more about the differences in the two procedures.
Treating back pain with spinal fusion
The most conventional kind of back operation is called spinal fusion. It involves removing a small section of bone from the spinal column to stabilize the affected nerves. A stainless steel cage or wire mesh is then inserted, and the patient's bone can then fuse to the new hardware, creating a structure that provides more support.
This approach is viewed by the medical community as fairly invasive because the surgeon will need to create deep incisions within the skin and muscle tissue to be able to perform the actual procedure.
Recovery time following a surgery like this can be as long as one year, and requires lengthy hospital stays. Besides being traumatic for the individual who has the procedure, it is not always effective. In fact, as many as thirty percent of these types of back surgeries are unsuccessful. In some cases, individuals cannot undergo the same intrusive surgery more than once because of an increased risk of complications.
Treating back pain with laser spine surgery
Unlike spinal fusion, laser spine surgery is considered a minimally invasive procedure because the incisions are routinely smaller than a quarter of an inch. This operation does not involve removing section of bone. Instead, the surgeon uses micro-surgery techniques to address the root cause of pain. Patients are normally are provided a local anesthetic agent, and some can expect to regain mobility in a matter of days. When a hospital stay is needed, it is generally less than twenty four hours.
The smaller incision site offers several advantages to the patient. For example, the surrounding skin and muscle tissue is preserved. This leads to faster recovery, more mobility, and fewer post-surgery complications like infection. Also, because there is no fusion, the patient can undergo additional surgeries if necessary. Later, if fusion is recommended the patient can still opt for it.
The success rate for minimally invasive laser surgery is high. On average, 75% of patients describe their outcomes as good or excellent. Another advantage to this type of spine therapy is the expense. On average, it costs 50% less than other conventional kinds of surgical treatment.
Who is an appropriate candidate?
Surgery is ideal for those who have already undergone unsuccessful surgeries, experience recurrent bouts of back pain symptoms, are diagnosed with narrowing blood vessels, as well as certain joint diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
An experienced surgeon can help individuals determine if they are appropriate candidates for surgery through a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and personalized consultations.
The choice to undergo a minimally invasive procedure is a highly personalized decision. Only an experienced surgeon can help an individual determine if they are appropriate candidates for surgery through a combination of MRI scans and personalized consultations.
No comments:
Post a Comment