Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery for Scoliosis
People everywhere are talking to their doctors about minimally invasive surgery, especially with respect to the spine.
This style of intervention offers patients many benefits. Because of the small incision size, there’s a much lower potential for infection, for one. For another, the patient experiences significantly reduced surgical trauma. Hospital stays are reduced and recovery time, also.
This post addresses minimally invasive spine surgery for scoliosis and its effectiveness in certain cases.
Conservative Therapies Are Highly Effective
Scoliosis is a reasonably common spine ailment, involving an abnormal curvature. For most scoliosis patients, conservative therapies are highly effective. These range from observation of curves to gauge progress (and discern ongoing therapeutic responses), bracing, the Scroth Method (which empowers patients through targeted exercise) and other movement-based treatments.
So, when is surgery indicated?
When Non-Invasive Treatments Fail
As stated earlier, most scoliosis cases respond well to non-invasive interventions. When these don’t help, surgery is called upon as a last resort.
Active people often choose surgery after trying other methods, like those listed above. But minimally invasive spine surgery for scoliosis isn’t the answer for everyone. Discerning whether it’s right for you is a matter of discussing the option with your doctor. This will reveal if this type of intervention is appropriate to your condition.
An Attractive Surgical Option
Minimally invasive procedures are gaining currency with scoliosis patients because they offer so many attractive benefits. The smaller incision means a smaller scar and reduced infection risk. If more than one incision is required to achieve the surgery, these will also be small. In traditional open surgery, one long incision is employed.
And this style of surgery is less time-consuming, involving less exposure of your internal organs for a shorter period of time, again reducing the risk of complications like infection.
Because muscles are not cut through during minimally invasive spine surgery, there’s much less pain. Traditional surgery demands that the muscles be cut through, whereas minimally invasive surgery dilates the muscles.
This reduced trauma to adjacent musculature results in shorter recovery times. It enhances the recovery process, especially when it’s attended by physical therapy in which the patient is fully invested and engaged.
As complex as spinal conditions and the spine itself can be, minimally invasive spine surgery is becoming increasingly popular with patients and surgeons alike, due to the benefits enumerated above. While it’s an exciting development, it’s important that you approach the question realistically. It’s widely agreed that minimally invasive procedures will have wider applications in the immediate future. For the time being, though, its reach doesn’t encompass every condition or every case of scoliosis which has not responded to conservative therapies.
Central Texas Spine Institute
At CTSI, our team is dedicated to restoring patients to full function and quality of life.
Our mission is treating all conditions of the spine, employing the full range of available treatments from conservative, through minimally invasive, to more traditional approaches, when required. We tailor our care to patient need, in a patient-centered setting which acknowledges that everyone is different.
