Less invasive surgery helps degenerative spine condition patients recover more quickly

Less invasive same-day surgery is an option for certain degenerative spine conditions, helping the patient recover more quickly and in a more comfortable home environment.

Less time under anesthesia means less time recovering from anesthesia’s effects. It also means less trauma to the surgical area, which leads to less pain and better recovery. Patients are released sooner to heal at home.

“The shorter and less invasive a surgery is -patients recover faster; they do better," Alexander Yu, MD, vice chair of neurosurgery with the Allegheny Health Network, said. “Healing at home is beneficial because of the patient and family's familiarity and comfort with home surroundings. Also, there has been shown to be less postoperative infections when patients are able to leave the hospital earlier.”

According to studies, minimally invasive approaches reduce length of stay by 37% and blood loss by up to four times. They also reduce complications like UTI and pneumonia and reoperation rates.

The most common same-day spine surgeries are 1 level lumbar decompressions and 1 level cervical diskectomies, Yu said. About 20 percent of AHN neurosurgery patients go home the same day, a number Yu said doubled over the past 10 years.

"We have an extended recovery anesthesia protocol,” Yu said. "When a patient comes in for surgery, the protocol optimizes the recovery to focus on pain control and optimize function. We’re developing more of these protocols to increase the number of patients that can go home on the same day.”

AHN uses a multidisciplinary approach for treatment.

“This multidisciplinary approach involves physical therapy, anesthesia, operating room staff, surgeons and nursing,” Yu said. “We also utilize a spine navigator to help the patient throughout this complicated process.”

Robotic tools, such as the Mazor™ Robotic Guidance System, enable more efficient surgeries and faster recovery times by assisting preoperative planning and intraoperative guidance, Dr. Yu said.

“Perioperative care is an area that continues to evolve,” Yu added. “Disc and facet joint replacement and newer devicescontinue to come to the horizon. Obviously, the number one goal is always going to be patient safety. As technology improves, we can send more patients home the same day, while keep them safe.”

For more information - https://findcare.ahn.org/Alexander-K-Yu