Minimally invasive spinal surgery is a quicker and safer alternative to open surgery. The spinal discs, vertebrae and nerves are present deep inside the body. A small incision is made and the surgical instruments and a camera is inserted which push aside the muscles and reach the problem area.

Which medical conditions can be addressed with minimally invasive spine surgery?

1. Degenerative Disc Disease (osteoarthritis of the spine)
2. Herniated Disc (the disc protrudes from its right place)
3. Spinal Tumours
4. Vertebral compression fractures (collapse of the vertebra)
5. Lumbar spinal stenosis (narrowing of the space near the spinal cord)
6. Scoliosis (the spine curves sideways)
7. Spinal infections
8. Spinal instability

What are the goals of minimally invasive spine surgery?

1. Decompression: this procedure eases the pressure being exerted on the spinal cord or the nerve roots. This pressure can be the cause of pinched nerves.
2. Stabilization: sometimes, a segment of the spinal cord that has come loose can be the source of pain. A stabilizations surgery fuses the segment to the rest of the structure.



The three most common methods of minimally invasive spine surgery are-

1. Tubular: it is also called  muscle splitting  surgery. A tubular retractor passes through the muscles of the back and reaches the spine.
2. Mini-open: it is a lot like open surgery but with fewer risks and blood loss. The possibility of post-operation infection goes down significantly.
3. Endoscopic: it is also called a keyhole surgery. A small camera is introduced through a small incision and guided to the spine. The camera gives an internal view of the spine to the doctors.

The three types of Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery are-

1. Microdiscectomy: involves the removal of the intervertebral disc that is putting pressure on the spinal cord.
2. Foraminotomy: spinal conditions can lead to narrowed foramen (the area where the spinal nerve exits the spine). The aim of the surgery is to expand the foramen.
3. Microlaminectomy: this is yet another type of decompression surgery. The aim is to relieve pain caused pinched nerves or a segment of the bone pressing down on the nerves.

What are the benefits of minimally invasive spine surgery?

  Speedy and pain-free recovery after surgery
  A patient is discharged the same day
  Very little loss of blood
  Reduced chances of infection
  Less scarring because the operation is done through small incisions
  Less muscle damage

Are there any risks attached to minimally invasive spine surgery?

No surgery is free of risks or side effects. Some common problems in the aftermath of minimally invasive spine surgery are-

  Allergies
  Reaction to anaesthesia
  Blood clots
  Infections
  In rare cases stroke and paralysis.

Minimally invasive spinal surgery incorporates the latest advances in the world of technology. It is the relatively hassle-free procedure and convenient for both doctors and patients.

Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery - A Safer Alternative To Open Surgery!

Even though brain aneurysms are becoming common these days, not all of them are required to be treated. In some cases, the physician may choose to observe an aneurysm closely before adopting any treatment measure. But in patients in whom an aneurysm has progressed to a severe level, there are two treatment options:

Open surgical clipping
Endovascular therapy or coiling
Open surgical clipping for brain aneurysms:
This procedure is typically performed by a neurosurgeon who makes an incision in the head. An opening in the bone is made, and then a clip is positioned by dissecting through the spaces of the brain. This aids in preventing the flow of blood into an aneurysm. In this procedure, the patient is required to stay in the hospital for two to three nights after which he or she is discharged.

Considerable modifications have been made in the open surgery techniques in the recent years. Neurosurgeons are now able to perform eye brow incisions or mini craniotomies for clipping an aneurysm. In these procedures, a small incision is cut out in the skin above the eyebrow for making a window. A tiny clip is placed across the mouth of an aneurysm to help it heal. But it is worthy of mention here that these are all invasive procedures and take relatively longer time to recover compared to the coiling process.

Endovascular coiling:

This treatment is also performed by a neurosurgeon, and it has been proved that this process is exceptionally suitable for patients with a ruptured aneurysm. Endovascular coiling is often done in coalesce with an angiogram, where a catheter is inserted into the vessel over the hip, which is then gradually carried to the vessels of the brain and finally to an aneurysm.
Then the coils are packed to the point where it rises from the blood vessel, which prevents the blood from flowing intothe blood vessel. Most patients undergoing this minimally invasive procedure can go home the day following the surgery. The success rate of this process is very high, and over 125,000 patients have been treated all across the globe with the help of detachable platinum coils.
Over the last few years, a substantial amount of advancements have taken place in the endovascular techniques. Recent developments show the use of flow diverting embolization devices, which are similar to a stent and are placed in the primary vessel, adjacent to an aneurysm. It diverts the flow away from an aneurysm and therefore, allows the neurosurgeons to treat the brain aneurysms, which were previously considered inaccessible and untreatable.
Both the procedures are quite efficient in treating a brain aneurysm. The most suitable option is dependent on a host of factors such as size, shape, location and overall health condition of the patient.

Brain Aneurysms - Treatment Options Available For It!

Cancer of the kidneys is amongst the ten most common types of Cancer. There are many types of renal cancer with Renal cell carcinoma being the most common amongst them. Renal cancer is said to be triggered by a genetic mutation but the cause for this mutation is yet unknown. While kidney cancer appears suddenly in some cases, in others it is inherited from the parents. Here are 4 things you should know about cancer of the kidneys.

Risk Factors
Along with a mutation of the genes which is beyond our control, some lifestyle factors can also increase a person s risk of suffering from renal cancer. Some of these factors are:

Smoking
Obesity
High blood pressure
Symptoms
An early diagnosis can make the treatment of renal cancer much easier than if it is left undiagnosed. Hence, it becomes important to recognise the symptoms of this disease. Common renal cancer symptoms include:

Blood in the urine
A lump on either side of the abdomen
Persistent pain on one side of the abdomen
Tiredness
Unexplained weight loss
Fever
These symptoms are common to a number of other diseases as well and hence if you experience them, it is best to get yourself checked out by a doctor. In order to confirm a diagnosis, your doctor is likely to ask for blood tests, urine tests, an ultrasound and a CT scan or an MRI. In most cases, your doctor will also schedule a biopsy to check for cancer cells in the kidney tissue.

Stages of kidney cancer
Once cancer has been diagnosed, your doctor will need to determine the extent of damage caused in order to find the best form of treatment for the disease. Stages of kidney cancer are determined by the size of the tumour and on how much it has spread from the original location. There are four stages of kidney cancer.
Stage I   When the cancer cells are restricted to the kidneys and the tumour is no bigger than 3  in diameter
Stage II   The tumour has grown bigger in size but is still restricted to the kidney
Stage III   The tumour may be big or small but has spread to at least one lymph node or has affected the blood vessels
Stage IV   The cancerous cells have spread to nearby lymph nodes or other organs or the tumour has grown through the fatty layer and outer fibrous layer of the kidney.

Treatment
Kidney cancer can be cured easily if detected in the early stages by removing the tumour and adjacent tissue or the entire kidney if need be. Removing one kidney is not fatal as a person can live a healthy life with a single kidney.

Kidney Cancer - How Its Stages Can Affect The Treatment?

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women about 1 in 8 women in the USA  develop invasive breast cancer. The incidence of breast cancer has increased with changes in lifestyle including smoking, drinking and loss of physical activity. The risk factors are age, ethnicity and family history cannot be changed. However, there are some risk factors that can definitely be acted upon to reduce the chances of developing breast cancer.

Weight management: Obesity is one of the major risk factors for breast cancer and managing weight and a good body mass index will help reduce the risk of developing breast cancer. This is especially important in women undergoing menopause.
Reducing smoking: The benefits of quitting it are manifold and reducing the risk for breast cancer is one of them. This will, as a byproduct, also result in a host of other benefits including improved quality of life, reduced chances of heart disease, stroke, and other cancers.
Physical activity: In addition to helping in weight management, this also helps reduce the risk of breast cancer. Ideal recommendation is 30 minutes of physical activity per day, plus strength training.
Breastfeeding: This helps in reducing the risk of breast cancer. Prolonged feeding is shown to have a greater protective benefit.
Hormone replacement therapy: When possible, limit the use of hormone replacement therapy for prolonged periods of time. Explore options of non-hormonal substitutes or use the least permissible or required dose. Be sure to get periodic check-ups when on hormone therapy.
Reduce exposure to environmental pollution: Higher levels of pollutants are linked to a higher incidence of breast cancer. When possible, avoid getting exposure to environmental pollutants.
Screening: If there is a strong family history or other risk factors, then screening can help detect breast cancer very early in the process. Recommended ages for mammography are as follows:
If you are age 40   44: Go for annual mammograms after discussing risks and benefits with the doctor.
If you are age 45   54: Go for annual mammogram.
If you are age 55 or over: Mammograms are recommended every other year. You can choose to continue to have them every year. Self-breast exams are not sufficient. However, if being done, they can also be an input to an abnormality.
Cautious use of birth control pills: Birth control pill usage to be discussed with your gynaecologist if you are above 35 years of age and smoke. The good news is that the risk associated with it disappears slowly after the pill is stopped.
These will help reduce the risk of developing breast cancer, early detection, and improved prognosis.

Breast Cancer - 8 Things You Must Do To Avoid it!

The treatment options for bone cancer depends on the type of cancer one is suffering from, the general health of the patient, the stage of cancer and the general preference of the patient. Different treatment options are designed for different types of cancer, based on the diagnosis. Each treatment responds in a different way. An oncologist decides the treatment options considering all the factors mentioned above. For instance, some cancer is best suited to surgery, while some cancer needs radiotherapy or chemotherapy to curb them. In many cases, all three modes of treatment might be required to tackle the growth of the cancer cells.

Surgery:
The goal of surgery is to eradicate the cancer cells in totality along with some surrounding healthy tissues. This involves special techniques to remove a tumor in one piece. Following are the types of surgeries that are available:

Removing the cancer cells sparing the limb: At the very first sight, the surgeon tries to understand whether it is possible to separate cancer cells from the tissues and the nerves. If the same is possible, the surgeon tries to save the limb while getting rid of the cancer cells. For the sake of safety and to ensure that the surgery is effective, the surgeon removes some of the healthy bone from the body and may replace the same with tissue from other parts of the body. To achieve this, a doctor might seek the help from of a bone bank or use a special metal prosthesis.
Surgery that does not involve the limbs: If the bone cancer does not involve the legs and the arm, surgeons can remove the affected bone along with some healthy bone from the surrounding areas. Cancer of the ribs and the spine are good examples of this type.
Surgery that affects the limb: Bone cancer that has spread to a significant extent and is strategically located in such areas that it is very difficult to remove, requires amputation. While this form of treatment is being increasingly discouraged by the wider medical community, it still does exist. In such cases, patients are fitted with artificial limbs and trained to do their job without the use of natural limbs.
Chemotherapy:
This is a form of drug treatment that uses powerful chemicals to kill cancer cells throughout the body. This medication is mostly given through an IV and the medication kills whatever cancer cells it comes across. 

Radiation therapy:
Radiation therapy involves the usage of special X-ray beams that have high power and can kill cancer cells. The patients are required to lie on a table, while a machine moves around the affected area and treats it with high energy X-rays, thereby killing the cancer cells. Radiation therapy is often used in conjunction with chemotherapy to reduce the size of a tumor before operating on it.


Bone Cancer - Know The Treatment Options!

The pain which a person experiences as a result of having a herniated disc can be quite debilitating, to tell you the truth. However, taking into due account the fact that all a person in such a situation would want would be to be up and running as soon as possible.

In order for this to happen, as would be expected, he or she would need to go through the options which are available for treatment of a herniated disc. There are various types of herniated disc treatments which are available though it can be said that conservative treatments are preferred as these treatments do not require surgery to be carried out on the person who is suffering from the issue.

The course of this sort of treatment lasts somewhere between one month to one and a half months. The aim of conservative treatment is to reduce or minimise the pain that is automatically associated with a herniated disc. There is a strategy to help a person improve by which he or she is provided with medicine for the purpose of pain relief while physiotherapy is made use of to make the underlying condition better.

Surgical treatment may be required, if the case is such that the person has lost a great degree of function and is in pain that seems to be pretty much unbearable. `If the person has a lumbar herniated disc, then the conservative treatment for this sort of case would require him or her to apply ice and heat from a warm source to provide relief to the area. If the pain is very bad yet the person is determined not to undergo surgery then the answer would be to consume some oral steroids or narcotic pain medications. One should surely keep in mind that this is only to carried out as per the prescription of a doctor who is trained and experienced to a sufficient degree.

If surgery is required for this sort of herniated disc, then it is likely to be a lumbar decompression surgery which aims to allow for the growth of the spine back to health as a result of removing the herniated disc. When it comes to cervical herniated disc treatment, conservative solutions include using drugs like ibuprofen and physical therapy; similar to solving lumbar herniated discs. However, surgical treatment for cervical herniated discs warrants anterior cervical decompression; where the disc is removed from the front of the neck.

 What Therapy Is Best For Herniated Disc?

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