Recent advancements make spine surgery simpler, safer: Expert

Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, October 23

The use of high-quality operating microscope and intra-operative neuro-monitoring have made spine surgery simple and safe.

Dr Gaurav Sharma, a spine surgeon, said: “There are several advantages of minimally invasive disc height restoration technology, including complete decompression of the nerve root, no requirement of blood transfusion, and minimal disruption of normal midline structures.”

“Many patients are mobilised with walker on Ist post-operative day and duration of hospitalisation ranges from three to five days,” he added.

He said “The ageing spine undergoes several degenerative changes due to wear and tear and one of them is loss of disc height. The normal disc acts as a shock absorber and has a height of about 10 to 12 mm. However, with ageing, loss of this disc height can lead to segmental instability resulting in disc slippage or asymmetric disc height loss, causing a side-to-side curvature of the spine.”

“These advanced degenerative changes result in the narrowing of the spinal canal, also known as spinal stenosis,” he added.