Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
What is Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery?
Minimally invasive spine surgery or MISS is sometimes also called less invasive spine surgery. In these procedures, Dr. Paraiso uses specialized instruments to access the spine through small incisions.
Minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) is an alternative to traditional open spine surgical procedures performed to treat spinal disorders like degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, scoliosis, and spinal stenosis. This surgery offered by Dr. Paraiso offers many potential benefits, including smaller incisions, less cutting through soft tissues and muscle, less post-operative pain, less bleeding, and faster rates of recovery.
In a traditional open spine surgery, a surgeon makes an incision that can be 5 to 6 inches long and moves the muscles to the side in order to access the spine. With the muscles pulled to the side, the surgeon can access the spine to remove diseased and damaged bone or intervertebral discs. The surgeon can also view where to place screws, cages, and any bone graft materials necessary to stabilize the spinal bones and promote healing.
Minimally invasive spine surgery reduces the incision size, prevents additional damage to structures, and allows for a faster recovery.
Techniques:
MISS spine fusions and decompression procedures (such as discectomy and laminectomy) are performed using many different approaches.
Minimally invasive spine surgery may involve percutaneous (through the skin) or mini-open (small incision) procedures. Instead of cutting through soft tissues, segmental tubular retraction creates an expandable tunnel that passes between muscles to access the spinal column. An endoscope, a tiny video camera, projects visualization of the surgical area on a monitor during the procedure to the spine surgeon. The spine surgery is performed utilizing specially designed minimally invasive instruments.
At the end of the procedure, the instruments are removed and the muscles return to their original position. This technique performed by Dr. Paraiso, limits the muscle damage that is more commonly seen in open surgeries.
