At Advanced Neurosurgery Associates, our team works with each patient to determine the best treatment for their specific needs. Our team uses minimally invasive spinal techniques, when appropriate. By using a tubular retractor system and a technique that involves dilation, or stretched movement, of muscle, our neurosurgical experts are able to expose the spine with a much smaller incision. Sometimes several incisions are used rather than one in the center of the spine.
If appropriate for our patients, the advantages of this technique can be in minimizing surgical dissection and exposure. With a much smaller incision than would otherwise be required, generally patients experience:
The disadvantages may be increased length of surgery or sometimes less ability to thoroughly decompress the spine. In cases of spinal fusion, it is usually not possible to place as much bone graft material in the field using these methods. It is important to discuss, in detail, your particular needs and expectations with your neurosurgeon at Neurosurgery & Associates and decide together if this type of treatment is your best option.
Sometimes a marketing concept of minimally invasive surgery is to state that it allows for the avoidance of “cutting muscle.” This is not accurate, as muscle in general should never be cut even in large open operations. Instead, muscle is preserved and the connective tissue plane between different muscles is developed, or muscles may be separated from a portion of their bony attachment, or sometimes, in either minimally invasive or open surgery, muscle is spread along the direction of the fibers preserving its structure.
To learn more about our minimally invasive spinal surgery services at Advanced Neurosurgery Associates or to schedule an appointment, call 678-312-2700 so that our staff can readily assist you.