Dr. Jeff Langmaid compares spinal fusion, which uses rods and screws for instability, to minimally invasive endoscopic surgery that decompresses nerves through tiny incisions. Fusion requires longer recovery and more tissue damage. Endoscopic procedures are often outpatient with faster healing, though insurance coverage varies.
Hi, My name is Dr. Jeff Langmid, and one of the most frequently asked questions I get is, what is the difference between a laser type spine surgery and a spinal fusion? Everybody hears the F word of fusion, and it can be intimidating and scary. And quite often that starts your search for alternatives that might be laser spine surgery, if you're looking online. So I wanted to break down the differences, what the goal of each is and, and what the limitations may be with each type of surgical procedure. So we've all heard of spinal fusions and some of the challenges that can come with that. And believe me, spinal fusion is definitely the last option, not the first choice as far as final conditions are concerned. But please keep in mind, if you have an unstable spine, if you have instability of your spine, then a spinal fusion may be right for you. Additionally, you might have disease processes, pathologies and challenges that, that just can't be addressed with a small, simple surgery. And that is where a spinal fusion can come in very handy. Now, typically with a spinal fusion, as you know, it's a longer procedure. These surgeries can be two, four, six hours or more. And anytime a fusion word is used, that means something is going to be left inside of your body. That means rods and screws quite frequently. So while that is not the first, first choice or the best option, sometimes it's the only option you may have to get the results you desire. But a spinal fusion basically means that they're going to stabilize your spine, take the pressure off the nerves, clear out any of the material that may be compressing or irritating your nerves, and then getting you up and on your way. That's normally done in a hospital as an inpatient type procedure. And the recovery from that, unfortunately, can be very challenging because, because of the disruption to the muscle and the tissues when they have to make a big incision to be able to see what they're doing. As a surgeon, insert the rods and the screws, that creates a lot of damage to the tissue, which is what creates a very challenging recovery process. Secondarily, laser spine surgery, what is that? That is endoscopic or minimally invasive spine surgery. So instead of a large incision, they're able to do the incision much, much smaller, and quite often use a tube about the size of my finger down to the area that is challenged or the problem spot. If you have a disc pressing on the nerve or pressing on your spinal cord, a compressive pathology, we call that stenosis. Many times a endoscopic or a minimally invasive procedure can be great to decompress or take the pressure off those tissues, helping you find relief. The benefits of a laser spine or a minimally invasive procedure is that the incision size is smaller. Less disruption to the tissue helps get you up and moving quicker. Additionally, the procedure time is shorter so you're able to have less time under anesthesia, which is always a good thing, minimizing risk. And many times these surgeries can be performed in an outpatient surgery center. So that means you can go home typically the next day, as long as you live within a close radius. So those are the benefits of a laser spine type procedure or a minimally invasive or endoscopic type procedure. Now a couple things to keep in mind with each of those is that many times fusion procedures are are covered under your healthcare insurance and you are going to encounter many different types of surgical providers that only do things outside of your insurance or out of network. Those are hard questions that you're going to want to speak to to your primary care doctor and other doctors to make sure that you are getting the right surgery, the right time and the right place to give you the benefits that you desire. So so that's some of the differences between a fusion procedure and an endoscopic, minimally invasive or laser type procedure. If you have any questions about that comment down below, I'll be sure to get to them and I hope you have a great day.
