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Presidio Surgery Center

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

Knowing What to Expect

Preparing for surgery can feel overwhelming or scary if you don’t know what to expect. You may have some unanswered questions and worries that make you feel this way. Knowing what to expect will help you feel less nervous and more in control.

Advantages of Minimally Invasive Outpatient Spine Surgery

·   Shorter surgery

·   Less anesthesia

·   No blood transfusion

·   Easier rehabilitation

·   Less post-operative pain; fewer pain medications

·   Minimal blood loss

·   Smaller scars; smaller incision

·   Less damage to muscle and skin

Types of Spine Surgery at Presidio Surgery Center

Anterior cervical discectomy is done to reduce pressure and discomfort by removing a herniated cervical disc through a small incision in the front of the neck. The space where the disc was can be filled with bone graft material.

Artificial cervical disc replacement or total disc replacement (TDR) involves removing most or all of a disc and replacing it with an artificial disc.

Minimally invasive lateral lumbar fusion (XLIF) is performed on the side of the body so the nerves and muscles of the back are less affected and involves removing a disc and replacing it with a spacer that will fuse with the two surrounding vertebra.

Kyphoplasty is done to treat compression fractures in the spine that can result from osteoporosis. It is done by inserting a tiny balloon into the vertebrae and injecting cement into the space created by the balloon, helping to fill in the fractured bone.

Laminectomy is done to decrease pressure on the spine by removing all, or nearly all, of the lamina, which is the thin bony layer that covers the top of the spinal cord.

Laminotomy helps decrease spinal pressure by removing a portion of the lamina, which is the thin bony layer that covers the top of the spinal cord.

Percutaneous posterior pedicle screw fixation involves attaching metal rods alongside the vertebrae to help stabilize the spine.

Microdiscectomy is done by making the smallest incision possible to remove part of a herniated disc that is pressing on spinal nerves and causing pain.