Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

Minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) relieves back and neck pain without causing excessive tissue damage. Stepan Kasimian, MD, and his colleagues at HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics are experts in MISS. The practice has convenient offices in Glendale, Santa Ana, and Upland, California, where patients receive expert advice on how MISS can reduce their pain. Call HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics today or book an appointment online to see if you can benefit from MISS.

What is minimally invasive spine surgery?

Minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) is an advanced alternative to open surgery. Traditional open spine surgery involves large incisions into your muscles so your surgeon can see the spine. These incisions cause extensive tissue damage that results in considerable pain after surgery and requires a lengthy recovery.

MISS needs only one or several small cuts that cause minimal tissue damage. The benefits of this approach include:

• Less pain after surgery
• Lower risk of infection
• Reduced bleeding
• Shorter hospital stay
• Quicker recovery
• Minimal scarring

HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics surgeons specialize in MISS, using advanced techniques to treat neck and back pain successfully.

Why might I need MISS?

Your surgeon at HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics might recommend MISS for spinal conditions when other treatments aren’t helping. Conditions commonly treated using MISS include:

• Spinal stenosis (narrowed spinal canal)
• Cervical radiculopathy (pinched neck nerves)
• Herniated discs
• Myelopathy (spinal cord compression)
• Lumbar radiculopathy (pinched lower back nerves)
• Spondylolisthesis (slipping vertebrae)
• Spondylosis (degenerative spinal arthritis)

Before considering surgery for these conditions, most patients undergo conservative treatment. The treatments can include physical therapy, medication, and other noninvasive treatments. Back and neck pain that isn’t improving might require epidural steroid injections into the spinal canal.

If these treatments aren’t relieving your back or neck pain, MISS could offer a solution.

What happens during MISS?

You might need a general anesthetic (so you’re asleep during surgery) or a local anesthetic that numbs the surgical site and a sedative to relax you. Your surgeon makes small incisions, which might be in your side (lateral approach), front (anterior approach), or back (posterior approach).

Your surgeon inserts retractors (hollow tubes) into the incisions to push your muscles aside, creating a channel for them to access your spine rather than having to cut through the muscles.

Your surgeon might use a surgical microscope or an endoscope (an instrument fitted with a miniature camera) to view your spine in detail. They complete the operation using specialized instruments that fit into the retractor channels.

What surgeries use MISS techniques?

HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics surgeons use MISS techniques to complete various surgeries, including:

Discectomy and microdiscectomy

Discectomy removes the entire damaged spinal disc. Microdiscectomy removes just the damaged part of the disc.

Spinal decompression

Decompression surgeries involve removing pieces of bone from selected vertebrae to widen your spinal canal.

Spinal fusion

Fusion permanently joins vertebrae together following discectomy or decompression, stabilizing your spine. An alternative is artificial disc replacement, which offers more spinal flexibility after surgery than spinal fusion.

Call HAAS Spine & Orthopaedics today or book an appointment online to learn more about MISS and how it can relieve your pain.