Last fall Trinity Regional Medical Center saw the addition of orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Luna. With him also came the ability to offer patients minimally invasive spine surgery.
Dr. Luna achieved a fellowship in orthopaedic spine surgery at Boston University, Boston Medical Center.
Minimally invasive surgery is often used for many operations, such as gall bladder and appendix removal, as well as total hip replacement. Recently it has been applied to surgeries of the spine, including spinal decompression and spinal fusion. Minimally invasive spine surgery is an exciting new option that may help relieve chronic back and/or leg pain.
Traditional spine surgery usually requires long incisions in the back. Muscles are cut and moved away from the spine to give access to the area. Standard open approaches to fusion of the spine can be associated with significant muscle trauma and blood loss, which can increase postoperative pain and hospital length of stay.
Minimally invasive spine (MIS) surgery strives to cut as little muscle as possible. MIS techniques for spine fusion have been introduced with the aim of reducing the size of surgical incisions, decreasing tissue trauma and allowing for more rapid recovery than possible with traditional open fusion. MIS surgery is performed through small incisions in the back using special instruments such as intraoperative X-ray, microscopes and tubular retractors.
Some of the advantages of MIS over traditional spine surgery are:
- Blood loss is significantly lower.
- Less postoperative pain.
- Rates of complications, including postoperative infection, showed a trend favoring MIS fusion.
- Fusion rates were found to be comparable for open and MIS approaches.
- MIS lumbar fusion has been shown to reduce the length of stay.
- MIS lumbar fusion has been shown to reduce hospital costs.
Along with minimally invasive spine surgery, Dr. Luna also provides general orthopaedic services. To contact Carol Grannon, call (515) 574-6794.
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