Herniated disc laser surgery is one of the minimally invasive options offered by today’s best spinal surgeons. However, laser surgery is a serious undertaking and still maintains many of the risks of any operative intervention. Lasers are extremely precise and can often be used to resolve problematic herniated disc concerns without damaging healthy tissues more than necessary. This makes laser procedures a good consideration when thinking about acquiescing to herniated disc surgery.
This discussion will feature the role played by lasers in the modern spinal surgery arena. We will investigate how lasers can treat herniations through a variety of procedural options and what patients can expect if they decide to undergo a laser-based back surgery technique.
Herniated Disc Laser Surgery Indications
Lasers are currently being used for a variety of surgical applications within the back pain treatment industry.
Laser implements are used in some types of discectomy procedures to excise parts of bulging discs and are also used to dissolve fragments of ruptured discs which may have migrated throughout the surrounding spinal anatomy.
Lasers can be used for variations on IDET and nucleoplasty operations, to dissolve mass in the nucleus pulposus and shrink the size of disc protrusions.
Finally, lasers can be used for many related applications, such as widening out the neuroforaminal spaces and removing built up osteophyte growth from the spinal joints.
Lasers have proven themselves to be highly precise and dependable surgical tools which can replace traditional instruments in virtually any spinal operation.
Laser Surgery Risks for Herniated Discs
Although lasers are less cruel to healthy tissue than actual scalpel-based surgery, they are still damaging and can cause many of the same complications which are well known throughout the orthopedic community.
Laser procedures can create spinal fluid leaks and do nerve damage, just like any other form of back surgery.
Laser wounds are also subject to infection, just like any other operative opening. However, lasers do minimize the chance for cross contamination, decreasing the risk for infection during the procedure itself.
More than anything, lasers still demonstrate the very real risk for an unsuccessful procedural outcome, which explains why failed herniated disc surgery is such an epidemic occurrence.
Herniated Disc Laser Surgery Results
I like laser procedures, since they can be performed easily and without causing more damage than necessary to accomplish the surgical objective. Blood loss is minimized, decreasing the need for transfusions during lengthy operations.
Laser techniques generally heal faster and better, although curative statistics are no better than traditional procedures. This, of course, has nothing at all to do with the laser and everything to do with the extremely rampant misdiagnosis which often lands patients in surgery for conditions which are not even the actual source of their pain.
Do yourself a favor. Do not pursue any treatment, especially surgery, unless you are 100% sure of the accuracy of your diagnosis, and even then, proceed with extreme caution.
Lasers are just a tool. They are never a miracle cure. But, when available, they can make a necessary operation more comfortable to endure and minimize the recovery time post-surgery.
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