Minimally invasive spine surgery can help back pain sufferers

Whether you work at a desk all day, lift heavy objects for a living or stand on your feet for hours at a time, chances are you've experienced back pain before. In fact, back pain is one of the most common health issues among adults young and old alike.

The good news is that more adults are seeking medical treatment for back pain, options for treatment are numerous and treatments are improving all the time. While surgery may be the best option to help relieve certain types of back pain, it is important for patients to know what options are available.

Minimally invasive spine surgery sounds like science fiction, but it's actually a modern surgery technique being practiced right now. Dr. David Hart, a neurosurgeon on staff at Cape Fear Valley Health, practices this less invasive surgery and explained its benefits.

"The things that have been shown and proven are less blood loss, lower risk of infection, a shorter hospital stay, less need for a heavy narcotic and a faster return to work," Hart said.

Utilizing a surgical microscope, surgeons can make a single, small incision on the patient at the spinal site. Depending on the type of procedure being completed, surgeries can last between two and four hours, and patients could be up and walking around the same day.

The major categories of back surgery include decompression surgery and fusion surgery.

The goal of a decompression surgery is to relieve pressure, such as on a herniated disk or a pinched nerve. Fusion surgeries stabilize the vertebra, usually through the addition of hardware like screws or plates. Both of these types of back surgeries are available with MISS options.

MISS procedures may already seem advanced, but new techniques continue to simplify fusion surgeries for both patients and doctors alike.

"Where things are really getting exciting are the MISS fusions," Hart explained. "We're using robots to place the hardware to make those procedures safer and more efficient."

Not all patients are candidates for MISS procedures though. The number of areas needed to be treated or the type of surgery required can disqualify patients from MISS eligibility. It doesn't hurt to ask your doctor if you're a candidate; just come prepared and do some research ahead of time.

"I love when patients have done some research," Hart said. "I don't expect them to know it the same way I do. It's always best to be as informed as you can as a patient, but so much of the information [out there] is unreliable. They try to get informed and read ridiculous things -- you just have to be careful."

The popularity of MISS has grown in recent years so much that the surgery has even acquired its own popular nickname -- "Band-Aid Surgery" -- though you probably won't hear your surgeon refer to it as such.

"The goal is to have you come out of the surgery with a very small incision. There are ads out there that specifically show a generic, computer-animated person’s back with a Band-Aid on their back," Hart said. "The basic idea of the principle is correct, [but] most of us in the business would not call it Band-Aid surgery."