Spinal surgery is the branch of surgery that deals with orthopedic surgical intervention to correct or improve a prognosis of a disease affecting the spine.
What does a spinal surgeon do?
A spinal surgeon is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in surgeries conducted on bone structures and cartilage that make up the spine. The goal of the surgeon is to cure or improve the prognosis of pathologies that affect this part of the body.
What diseases are treated by a spinal surgeon?
The diseases most often treated by a spinal surgeon include arthritis, osteoarthritis (joint damage due to degeneration), herniations and disc protrusion, vertebrae fractures, malformations such as scoliosis, spondylolisthesis (gradual forward displacement of a vertebra), and cervical or lumbar stenosis (narrowing of the diameter of the cervical canal).
What are the procedures used by a spinal surgeon?
The procedures used include the minimally invasive percutaneous method, discectomy (removal of vertebral disc), laminectomy (removal of one or more sheets of the posterior vertebral), laminoplasty (cervical stenosis), and lumbar spine arthrodesis for spondylolisthesis.
In cases of a open surgery the use of general anesthesia is required and a hospital stay of about a week long.
When should a patient visit a spinal surgeon?
A general practitioner will send the patient to a spinal surgeon if there is an issue that has to be resolved with a surgery. The patient should also visit the surgeon after a surgery in order to monitor the postsurgical recovery.
