Outpatient Spine Surgery: A New Way to Look at Surgery - Dr. Ronjon Paul, MD

Traditionally spine surgery has been an intensive procedure requiring an inpatient hospital stay and long recovery time. Open spine surgery involves a long incision and muscle retraction to access the problem area. With modern technological advancements minimally invasive spine surgery can be used to treat many conditions that previously required open surgery. Minimally invasive spine surgery is making outpatient spine surgery possible.

There are a number of techniques used to perform minimally invasive surgeries.

Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of minimally invasive procedures versus traditional open surgery which make outpatient spine surgery a possibility.

• Generally safer with lower risk of complications.
• Less blood loss and pain.
• Reduced damage to muscles and soft tissue.
• Shorter hospital stay and a quicker outpatient recovery.
• A much smaller incision.
• Smaller, less noticeable scars.

All of these improvements provided by minimally invasive surgery techniques are used to treat various back conditions. These factors contribute to making the surgery less intensive and enable patients to recover at home instead of at the hospital. Learn more about Rehab & Recovery.

Two of the most common types of outpatient back surgery are spinal fusion and disc decompression surgery. Both of these surgeries can be performed using minimally invasive techniques that only require a very small incision and minimize the outpatient back surgery recovery time.