Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

Minimally invasive spine surgery is a method of performing surgery. In a “traditional” open surgery approach, your surgeon makes a single long incision (cut) through your skin. To help your surgeon clearly see the surgical site, a relatively large amount of muscle and surrounding soft tissue are spread or pulled out of the way or removed from bone. This can result in more muscle damage and pain after surgery.

In minimally invasive surgery, your surgeon makes one or more small incisions (about ½ inch each) through your skin. A small metal tube or endoscope is placed through the incision to allow the surgeon to work through a smaller operative field. Working through smaller incisions causes much less damage to muscles and soft tissues than a single long incision.
Many types of spine surgeries can be performed using a minimally invasive approach. These include:

• Spinal fusion, which is often performed on degenerative or “slipped” disks.
• Deformity corrections, such as for scoliosis and kyphosis.
• Decompression of spinal tumors.
• Repair and stabilization of vertebral compression fractures.
• Lumbar spinal stenosis.
• Infection in the spine.