Wonderful World of Laser Laminectomy
Posted on May 23, 2008
Filed Under Back Pain | Leave a Comment
According to Center for Disease control, Nearly 2.4 million Americans suffer from chronic back pain. The cost to treat back pain directly or indirectly costs approximately $75 billion dollars. American workers suffer from back pain next only to flu, which is debilitating and results in loss of work and income.
The individual suffering from back pain has to deal with emotional and chronic physical pain. The pain can be a lifetime experience, unless surgical intervention is recommended by trained physicians. Pain killers, analgesics, and steroidal applications are just a band aid to a chronic condition. Laser laminectomy is a new procedure done to reduce chronic condition in patients suffering from back pain. Laminectomy refers to a procedure done on vertebra resulting in partial or complete removal of the lamina. Lamina is the wing like part of the vertebra. The back bone is also called vertebrae. The spinal cord traverses through the vertebra.
Spinal stenosis is a condition when patients suffer from severe back pain. Spinal stenosis is a condition, where the affected spinal cord nerves are compressed. The common causes of spinal stenosis are injury, aging or a tumor. The procedure of surgical laminectomy was pioneered by Victor Alexander Haden Horsley in 1887. This procedure attempts to completely or partially remove or shape the spinal disc to treat conditions like herniated disc.
Symptoms that are commonly observed in patients are chronic low back pain which further leads to the feeling of anguish and immobility. Current medical methods of treating the low lumbar back pain by herniated discs is either by surgery or administering of pain killers. In order to prevent suffering and emotional stress an invasive procedure is recommended. This procedure is done under general anesthesia. The patient is first admitted to a hospital and anesthesia is administered later a small incision is made.
Also an alternate procedure of treatment would be by laser laminectomy. Herniated discs are also commonly known as “Slipped disc”. Herniation disc occurs when the nerves around the spine are directly affected by the bulging inter vertebral disc. This causes pain on the left and right side of the lower back. The aim of surgical laminectomy procedure is to relieve the pressure exerted on the nerves around the spinal column; this allows to relieve the pain and allow for physical reduction of the protruding lamina. Patients who have undergone laminectomy have to go through a long recovery phase after surgery. This involves pain mediation, physical therapy and exercise.
Laser laminectomy is a novel and minimally invasive procedure and approach to treating patients suffering from back pain. This condition of Back pain is ancient and can be traced back to ancient Egyptians and Greek times.
Laser laminectomy entails using a leaser beam to slice part of the effected nerve or lamina to relive pain in the back. Huston laser laminectomy can attempt this procedure for herniated discs which is minimally invasive. Less invasive is medical slang for a procedure that does not need anesthesia. Anastasia is required in surgical laminectomy the patient is put under Anastasia before the procedure is performed. The surgical option is invasive and expensive, and carries the risk of occurring again and also latter affecting the neck.
Treatment for back pain is complicated, costly and chronic. These three C’s, plague Americans, especially the workforce in software research and development. American geriatric population is also affected by chronic back pain and alternative like laser laminectomy needs to be considered as potential treatments.
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