Скачать или смотреть Spinal Fusion Surgery: Essentially a ‘Welding’ Process That is Fairly Common

Spinal fusion surgery may sound somewhat scary, but it is a fairly common procedure that corrects problems with the small bones in the spine (vertebrae). It is essentially a “welding” process, said Michael E. Gomez, M.D., neurosurgeon and director of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery at Baptist Health’s Miami Neuroscience Institute.

The basic premise is to fuse together two or more vertebrae so they can heal into a single, solid bone. This will eliminate painful motion or restore stability to the spine.

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[Transcript]
Michael E. Gomez:
Spinal fusion is a fairly common surgery. It involves placing an implant into the disc space in order to essentially weld the two vertebrae together. And by doing so, it allows us to restore alignment, allows us to restore the disc space height, and also to restore the size of the spinal canal and the size of the foramen, which are the holes where the nerve roots exit on the side,

Michael E. Gomez:
If a patient has compression of nerves and a deformity at this bottom level at L5, S1 is a fairly common level to have degeneration, we can perform a surgery where we directly access the disc from the front through a small incision, kind of like a C-section incision, with the help of a vascular surgeon, we get to the front of the spine and it allows us to remove the entire disc and using a series of small metal shims, we can restore the disc space height, and place an implant in there that separates the vertebrae and also stabilizes the spine with a separate plate and force roots.

Michael E. Gomez:
At L4, L5, we're able to take a lateral approach to the disc space where a similar spacer is placed into the disc space after removing the disc in order to restore the disc space height, thereby opening up these small holes on the sides, and also opening up the spinal canal where the nerves travel. Typically, patients will undergo a vast array of conservative treatment from physical therapy to exercises such as yoga and Pilates, as well as injections with pain management. And ultimately after failing all appropriate conservative management, then if patients have a deformity or have some sort of need to undergo a spinal fusion, then that tends to be the final result.

Michael E. Gomez:
Most patients or candidates for spinal fusion as long as they're fairly healthy and have good bone health. Typically, spinal fusion is reserved for patients who have already had surgery before that didn't involve a spine fusion and now either have a new disc herniation or have developed a deformity arrowing of the holes on the sides where the nerve roots exit.