Advancing with spinal screw fixation surgery without making an incision

When the Spine Shifts and Compresses the Nerves

Spinal displacement compressing the nerves can be found in teenagers, working-age adults, and the elderly because the main causes of the disease can result from both accidents and degeneration of the intervertebral discs. Patients often present with symptoms of back pain, leg pain, pain in the buttocks area, as well as radiating pain down the leg, numbness, and some may need to stop walking to rest due to leg weakness. Some experience severe back pain when sitting for long periods, or if the nerve compression lasts for a long time, it may affect bowel and bladder control. However, symptoms vary depending on the degree of spinal displacement in each patient.

 

Factors Causing Spinal Degeneration Include

        ๐  Age - Degeneration that occurs naturally with increasing age.

        ๐  Lifestyle Behaviors - Postures that contribute to spinal degeneration, such as lifting heavy objects, improper postures when sitting, standing, walking, bending, and excessive body weight.

 

Get to Know the Evolution of Screw Fixation Surgery at Phyathai 3 Hospital Before Reaching the Percutaneous Screw Fixation Method Without Incision

 

        ๐  Standard Open Surgery - This method involves a long incision, lifting the muscles along the surgical line to insert the screws for fixation, then closing the skin as usual. These steps cause significant postoperative pain because the muscles are severely injured and take longer to recover.

        ๐  Minimally Invasive Screw Fixation Surgery - This surgery involves two small incisions, one on each side of the spine, about 2.5 cm in size, to insert screws. One side’s muscles are expanded to cut and fuse the bones, causing moderate postoperative pain on the expanded muscle side, but less than the standard open surgery.

        ๐  Percutaneous Screw Fixation Surgery - This is a screw fixation surgery without open incisions. Bone cutting and fusion can be done through a small incision in the middle of the spine, where there are no muscles, so patients experience less postoperative pain from muscle injury compared to the previous two methods. The screw placement points, directions, and surgical coordinates are guided by X-ray monitor imaging. The screws used are special types designed specifically for percutaneous screw surgery. This method is suitable for patients with spinal displacement at 1-2 levels.

 

Advantages of Percutaneous Screw Fixation Surgery

        ๐  Very fast recovery

        ๐  Minimal blood loss

        ๐  The surrounding muscles are not lifted or widely expanded, so there is minimal trauma, resulting in very little postoperative pain

        ๐  Most patients can walk the day after surgery

        ๐  Short hospital stay

 

Dr. Theerachai Panitphong
Specialist Neurosurgeon
and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

 

Source : Phyathai 3 Hospital