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Surgery is recommended for the patients only when
other treatments like medications, exercise, electrical stimulation,
and alike fail to treat the back pain successfully. Those patients
who have severe, constant and progressive muscle weakness caused by
compression of the nerves, need surgery treatment to relieve their
back pain.
Some of the back or spine
surgeries include:
Laminectomy: In laminectomy, the pain caused by bone
spurs or disc fragments is relieved by removing the part of a
vertebrae. It is also useful in removing the benign tumors on the
spine. Although some small risks are attached to this surgery which
sometimes make it unsuccessful. The ultimate aim of laminectomy is
to relieve pressure on the spinal nerve by widening the spinal
canal. Laminectomy can be performed with or without removing the
part of the disc.
Disectomy: Disectomy also involves the removal of
diseased disc thus relieving the pressure on the spine. In this only
a part of disc is removed which is responsible for putting pressure
on the nerve. Although its long term success is not 100 %.
Microdisectomy: The current
procedure used is the microdisectomy is that of making a small
incision (1 to 1 ½ inch). In this procedure, the discs are
lifted and moved away from the spine. Then the injured disc tissue
is removed after identifying and moving the nerve root. No change is
found in the structures supporting the spine like ligaments, muscles
and joints. It uses microscope for its
operation.
Spinal fusion: In this
process two vertebrae are joined together by bone graft or any other
device. Metal plates and screws are also used to attach the bones
which are to be joined as an internal brace. A tiny hollow metal
cage implanted in to the disc space is used in most spinal fusion
surgeries. Then the bone is removed from the patient's hip and
packed inside the cage. As the time increases, the bone grows
through the holes fusing the vertebrae. When the adjacent bones grow
together to form single bone, then fusion occurs.
Other procedures include:
Endoscopic
disectomy: It uses a thin tube containing cameras and surgical
instruments which are inserted through small incisions.
Percutaneous disectomy: It uses a tube having a device at the
tip which cuts away some of the nucleus pulposus and vacuum and then
sucks the gelatinous matter out.
Laser disc
decompression: It is similar to percutaneous disectomy but it
uses laser energy to remove the disc tissue. This energy comes
through a needle destroying nucleus pulposus thus reducing the
pressure on the nerve.
So these are some of the surgical treatments for curing back pain.
Depending upon the type of cause and severity of the pain,
appropriate surgery can be recommended to the patient.
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