Several Factors To Consider When Deciding On Laser Spine SurgeryIf you have pain, cramping or numbness in your legs, arms, back, neck or shoulders you may have a back condition called spinal stenosis. Serious sufferers of spinal stenosis suffer from the above ailments as well as loss of sensation in your extremities (fingers, toes, etc.), as well as loss of bladder function. To determine whether or not you have spinal stenosis, a series of tests will be conducted. Once you have received an MRI, X-ray, CAT scan, bone scan and a Myelogram, a proper diagnosis can be made. The cause is most likely triggered by bone damage caused by osteo-arthritis. Spinal stenosis is a condition caused by the narrowing of the spinal chord causing pinched nerves with persistent pain in the buttocks and lower back accompanied with numbness in your extremities and occasionally limping. Wearing a brace, taking over the counter anti-inflammatory medications or attending physical therapy can help alleviate mild forms of this problem; however, in the worst of cases, surgery can be performed. Many times, the best form of treatment for this chronic problem is laser surgery for spinal stenosis. This laser surgery is a new and effective way to operate on your cervical or lumbar. When opting to use laser surgery for spinal stenosis, you will be running a much lower risk or nerve damage because the laser hits directly where it is supposed to, without as big of a worry for human error. Although the risks are mild, you still run the risk of infection at the small incision site. Since a general anesthetic is not normally used, the patient is awake during the procedure and recovers quickly without being unconscious. As a patient, you will be sedated and will most likely not remember any of the procedure, making it as seemingly pleasant of an experience as can be for a surgery. While many physician’s agree that laser surgery for spinal stenosis is not only possible, but practical, other doctors say that providing spine surgery with a laser, especially on a patient with spinal stenosis, is completely useless and, in fact, dangerous. Although lasers can cut tissue, the disks lay right next to the nerve root, risking a chance of nerve damage if something were to go wrong during the surgery. Since the layers only cut tissue, they cannot cut bone, therefore, it cannot be used to provide decompression for patients with spinal stenosis. It is a wise choice to get a second, even a third opinion from a physician and orthopedic surgeon so you can be assured that you are making the right decision when it comes to the choice of spinal surgery. |