Minimally Invasive Surgery (also known as MISS), is a term used to describe the types of spinal surgery where, instead of traditional open approaches, every effort is made to minimize the trauma to the tissues covering the spine (skin, soft tissues, muscle). This approach allows faster recovery and less post operative pain. The goal here is to minimize the irritation surgery causes on the tissues supporting and help in moving the spine such as muscles, ligaments and tendons.
Our team specializes in the latest MIS techniques and continue to push the frontiers of this emerging field. They strive to minimize the invasive nature of spine surgery. It should be noted that only under most expert hands can minimally invasive surgical techniques remain effective and still address the problem that surgery is meant to correct.
Before your surgery, we will determine which minimally invasive techniques are possible to employ. Where applicable, these will consist of smaller incisions, use of fluoroscopic x-ray for localization, and the operating microscope to allow maximal microsurgical precision and visualization.
Our surgeons routinely perform the following MIS procedures:
- Microdiscectomy
- Microdecompression
- Balloon Kyphoplasty (for vertebral compression fractures)
- Vertebroplasty
- Anterior cervical discectomy and disc replacement
- Posterior microforaminotomy (laminoforaminotomy)
- Facet injections/ Facet rhizotomy
- Minimally invasive spinal fusion or dynamic stabilization
- Interspinous device insertion
- Percutaneous spinal fusion and fixation