Surgical Treatments For Back Pain
While the majority of treatment for lower back pain is non-surgical, there are some conditions for which surgery is appropriate. As well, in some rare cases, surgery can be used to treat chronic back pain for which other treatments have failed.
In a laminectomy, part of the lamina, a portion of the bone on the back of the vertebrae, is removed. It can be used to treat herniated discs and spinal stenosis. In microdiscectomy a much smaller incision is made and the doctor uses a magnifying lens to locate the disc.
The smaller incision may reduce pain and the disruption of tissues, and it reduces the size of the surgical scar.
With a laser discectomy, a laser is used to vaporize the tissue in the disc, reducing its size and relieving pressure on the nerves.
Spinal fusion may be used to treat spondylolisthesis and degenerative disc disease. In spinal fusion, two or more vertebrae are joined together using bone grafts, screws, and rods. The fused area of the spine becomes immobilized.
Vertebral fractures can be caused by trauma or by osteoporosis. A vertebroplasty injects a cement-like mixture called polymethyacrylate into the fractured vertebra to stabilize the spine. Kyphoplasty inserts a balloon device to help restore the height and shape of the spine before injecting polymethyacrylate to repair the fractured vertebra.
Disc replacement surgery can now be done in cases where the disc is severely damaged. Here the disc is simply removed and replaced with a synthetic disc.