Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who performs a spinal fusion?An orthopedic surgeon who is familiar with surgeries on the spine performs spinal fusion.
2. Where is spinal surgery done? In a hospital or an ambulatory surgery center?
Minimally invasive procedures and even surgeries that are slightly more complex, such as a one-level cervical disc fusion or a lumbar disc fusion can be safely done in an ambulatory surgery center. The patient gets to go home within 6 – 24 hours. If the patients have comorbidities and/or require longer procedures, it is safer to perform the surgery in a hospital setting.
3. Will a spinal fusion have an effect on the rest of the spine?
This depends on the location of the spinal fusion and the number of levels involved. Patients who have undergone a one level lumbar fusion surgery can still touch the tops of their feet afterwards.
When bones fuse together at a certain level, some stress of motion will be borne by the adjacent spinal levels that may cause their accelerated breakdown.
4. Will a one-level anterior cervical fusion lessen my neck mobility?
No, since the degenerative discs and arthritic levels are usually already quite stiff by the time surgery is needed to perceive any change post surgery. Also, most of the nodding and turning of the head at the neck region occurs at the uppermost cervical levels that are rarely involved in cervical fusion operations.
5. What is laminectomy?
Laminectomy is a surgical procedure undertaken to relieve symptoms caused by pressure (decompression surgery) on the spinal nerve roots due to stenosis or narrowing of the spinal canal.
6. What is discectomy?
Discectomy is the surgical removal of part or all of a herniated or bulging intervertebral disc that presses against a nerve root or the spinal cord and causes pain and other symptoms.
7. What is corpectomy?
Corpectomy is a surgery to remove degenerative vertebrae along with the intervertebral discs that cause compression of the spinal cord and the nerves that arise from it.
