Laser Spine Surgery Vs Traditional Back Surgery

Cost of minimally invasive vs.

Laser spine surgery vs traditional back surgery. The goal of minimally invasive spine surgery miss is to achieve outcomes equivalent to open surgery while minimizing soft tissue damage. Minimally invasive spine surgery is a newer and innovative technique to spinal care. The laser has been around spine surgery for more than 20 years. When a laser is used in spine surgery it is used to perform facet joint nerve ablation in an attempt to reduce back pain from arthritic facet joints.

Although pain and recovery times are often reduced in miss long term outcomes are rarely better than traditional approaches. Laser spine surgery has become a highly successful alternative to traditional open back surgery providing quick welcome relief to countless individuals suffering from excruciating and debilitating back and neck pain. The surgeon cuts away bone at the sides of your vertebrae to widen the space where nerves exit your spine. Laser spine surgery is often used alongside minimally invasive techniques.

This technique involves using the energy from the laser to vaporize ablate the small nerve endings that supply the facet joints essentially disrupting the pathway the pain signals use to get to. There are multiple reasons why the overall costs differ between minimally invasive and traditional spine surgery. This surgery is used to relieve pain associated with a compressed nerve in the spine. Some might argue that the laser is an appropriate or ideal tool for spine surgery but this is not generally accepted within the neurosurgical spine community or among leading spine surgeons.

Alternatively regenerative stem cell and platelet treatments actually seek to improve disc and nerve health. Because the muscles are not cut healing time is greatly reduced as compared to traditional open spine surgery. The muscles in the back run vertically so the muscles are separated along the natural muscle planes to gain access to the spine. Laser in my opinion isn t a viable alternative to traditional low back surgery.

As a patient you incur not only from the cost of the actual procedure but also costs associated with recovery and progress. With the exception of lipomeningocele surgery it has not gained mainstream acceptance. It s different from other types of back surgery such as traditional back surgery and minimally invasive spine surgery miss. In fact i now have to give the above air quote when i talk about laser spine surgery with my patients.