Endoscopic microdiscectomy is a new, minimally invasive surgical technique for acutely herniated discs. With this technique, your surgeon places a guide wire to the affected level under fluoroscopic guidance. A series of dilators will then gently open up the space, allowing for a portal trochar to be placed. This trochar serves as a shield to help protect the surrounding nerve and allow your surgeon to remove your disc herniation under direct visualization via a camera and with long tools through a small portal incision.
Through one of our skilled spinal surgeons, endoscopic spine surgery works by safely putting a tiny camera into small parts of the spine and looking at those parts under a magnifying lens. By doing this we can see the nerves, the disc herniations, and can take the pressure off the nerves without removing significant bone or damaging any muscle whatsoever.
Endoscopic surgery is minimally invasive procedure that can quickly be performed under twilight or general anesthesia. Using local numbing medication and anesthesia, the entire procedure can take as little as an hour, and the patient is able to move freely and go home soon after.
Endoscopic spine surgery has unleashed new potential for faster, safer, and more effective surgical recoveries.
This innovative treatment option typically is performed on those patients with an acute disc herniation. Meaning th herniation occurred approximately 3 months or less.
Spinal endoscopic surgery offers a huge advantage over traditional types of spine surgeries in many circumstances. During traditional spine surgeries, big muscle incisions with lots of muscle disruption and lots of bone removal are often times needed. While using an endoscope, we can do it without disrupting all that muscle, without removing all that bone. Ultimately, it means smaller incisions, less muscle cutting, less muscle back pain, faster recovery after surgery, and better long-term outcomes with surgery.
Reviewed by: Dr. Christopher Good, MD, FACS.