Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery is an emerging area, which is both exciting and full of promise. It involves performing surgery on the spinal cord and the vertebral column using minimally invasive techniques. The major advantages of this technique over conventional spine surgery are primarily - Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery is safer and offers a much shorter recovery time compared to conventional spine surgery. It leads to less post-operative complications as well.

Secondly, in Minimally Invasive Surgery a tunnel is made through your back muscles by sequential dilatation to permit access to the spine by the surgeon. This leads to minimal tissue damage and less pain. In a conventional surgery, all the muscles are stripped off the vertebrae. The operative scar in Minimally Invasive Surgery consists of one or more small scars measuring up to an inch versus a single large long scar of conventional surgery.

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery also known as 'keyhole surgery' uses a thin telescope like instrument known as endoscope, which is inserted through small incisions. The endoscope is connected to a tiny video camera, which projects the inside view of patient's body onto television screens in the operating room.

Small surgical instruments are then passed through one or more additional half-inch incisions. These incisions are covered with surgical tapes and after a few months are hardly visible.

After Minimally Invasive technique, the next most talked about technique is the Percutaneous Vertebroplasty. This is a new technique used for relieving pain due to collapsed vertebrae, wherein only a needle is placed, under guidance, into the fractured vertebrae for injection of the bone cement. But MISS is one procedure that has multiple operatives.

MISS is mostly used for slipped or prolapsed discs, spinal fusion, which is often performed on degenerative discs, trauma and spondylolisthesis (one vertebra slips over another), deformity corrections, such as for scoliosis, removal of herniated and prolapsed discs, and pain due to collapsed vertebrae. It is even more popular due to the advantages it has over any other technique.

There are numerous advantages of MISS, like quicker and accurate diagnosis, faster recovery with shorter hospital stay, minimal tissue damage, hence less pain, minimal post-operative infections, precise surgical technique can be performed, minimal scarring, and no residual weakness.

However, these procedures are not appropriate for all patients. Every patient is evaluated individually and advised accordingly. If your physician recommends a more traditional open approach then it does not mean that recovery time is going to be very long or painful. One should educate self about all the surgical options available, discuss these options with the physician and then rely on him to choose the best option for you that he is comfortable performing.

With the help of the right technique and an expert doctor, one can get rid of all kinds of pain. For more information on Orthopaedic and joint replacement surgeries visit www.maxhealthcare.in .