Spine Surgery

You can have spine surgery without a long stay in the hospital when you have a minimally invasive procedure performed by the experienced neurosurgeons at the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida, located in Delray Beach and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Their fellowship-trained neurosurgeons specialize in minimally invasive endoscopic and robotic spine surgery, procedures that cause less pain, preserve your muscles, and promote a faster recovery. To learn how spine surgery can ease your neck or back pain, call the nearest office or book an appointment online today.

When might I need spine surgery?

The team at the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida begins your treatment with conservative medical care. If your symptoms don’t improve, you may need surgery to repair the cause of your pain.

Spinal conditions that often improve with surgery include:

• Herniated discs
• Degenerative disc disease
• Spinal stenosis
• Sciatica
• Kyphosis
• Radiculopathy (pinched nerves)
• Sacroiliac joint dysfunction
• Vertebral compression fractures
• Spondylolisthesis (slipped vertebra)
• Facet joint syndrome (osteoarthritis)

You also need surgery to treat your spine after suffering a fracture.

What procedures are performed during spine surgery?

Spine surgery includes procedures to:

• Repair a damaged disc (discectomy)
• Insert an artificial disc (disc arthroplasty)
• Fuse adjacent vertebrae (spinal fusion)
• Remove the vertebral body (corpectomy)
• Decompress pinched nerves (laminectomy, laminotomy, foraminotomy, facetectomy)
• Inject medication to treat scarring (neuroplasty)
• Remove a tumor (tumor resection)
• Treat compression fractures (vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty)
• Block a nerve (rhizotomy or radiofrequency ablation)

Depending on the type of surgery and whether the problem is in your neck, middle, or lower spine, they may make the incision in the front (anterior approach), back (posterior approach), or from the side (transforaminal approach).

Do spinal surgeries go by different names?

Each surgery has a name based on the spine area (cervical, thoracic, or lumbar), approach, and procedure, such as: 

• Posterior cervical discectomy
• Posterior lumbar discectomy
• Lumbar laminectomy and fusion
• Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF)
• Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF)
• Lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLUF)
• Anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF)
• Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF)

This list isn’t comprehensive, but it gives you an overview of the many spine surgeries available to ease your pain and restore spinal mobility.

How is spine surgery performed?

The expert neurosurgeons at the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida specialize in minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery. During endoscopic surgery, your neurosurgeon makes a small incision and creates a narrow opening using a retractor to gently separate the muscle fibers.

They guide a slim endoscope through the opening to your spine, where a camera in the scope sends magnified images to a monitor. Your neurosurgeon repairs your spine by viewing the image and manipulating surgical instruments inserted through the scope.

The team at the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida also performs advanced robotic spine surgery. This minimally invasive procedure uses robotic guidance for exceptional precision.

To learn more about spine surgery, call the Brain and Spine Center of South Florida or book online today.