Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 11/24/2009
BOOKS
Beauchamp, M.D., Daniel R., Mark B. Evers, M.D., Kenneth L. Mattox, M.D., Courtney M. Townsend, and David C. Sabiston (Editors). Sabiston Textbook of Surgery: The Biological Basis of Modern Surgical Practice. 16th...
edition. London: W B Saunders Co., 2001.
Bogduk, Nikolai, Brian McGuirk, and Boriana Dirk Van Der Deliiska. Medical Management of Acute and Chronic Low Back Pain. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Health Sciences, 2002.
Cailliet, Rene. Low Back Disorders: A Medial Enigma. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2003.
Lawrence, Peter F., Richard M. Bell, and Merril T. Dayton, eds. Essentials of General Surgery. 3rd edition. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2000.
Resnick, Daniel K., ed. Surgical Management of Low BackPain (Neurosurgical Topics). 2nd edition. Rolling Meadows, IL: American Association of Neurological Surgeons, 2001.
Watkins, Robert G. Surgical Approaches to the Spine. 2nd edition. Berlin, Germany: Springer Verlag. 2003.
PERIODICALS
Alini, M., P. J. Roughley, J. Antoniou, T. Stoll, and M. Aebi. "A Biological Approach to Treating Disc Degeneration: Not for Today, But Maybe for Tomorrow."European Spine Journal 11, no. 2 (October 2002): S215-20.
Deyo, R., and J. Weinstein. "Low Back Pain."New EnglandJournal of Medicine 344, no. 5 (2001): 363-70.
Oskouian, R .J., Jr., J. P. Johnson, and J. J. Regan. "Thoracoscopic Microdiscectomy."Neurosurgery 5, no.1 (January 2002): 103-9.
Silber, J. S., D. G. Anderson, V. M. Hayes, and A. R. Vaccaro. "Advances in Surgical Management of Lumbar Degenerative Disease."Orthopedics 25, no.7 (July 2002): 767-71.
ORGANIZATIONS
North American Spine Society. 22 Calendar Court, 2nd Floor, LaGrange, IL 60525. (877) Spine-Dr. E-mail: info@ spine.org.
National Institutes of Health. 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892. (301) 496-4000. Email: NIHInfo@od.nih. gov.
OTHER
Spine Health.com. Total Disc Replacement. 2003.
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery (AAOS) and American Association of Orthopaedic Surgery. Low Back Surgery. 2001.
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This animation shows the steps involved in an anterior cervical disc replacement. The cervical spine is the spinal area that supports the head while the disks of the spine are the relatively soft areas between individual vertebra (spinal bones). As the animation shows, this cervical disc replacement involves the removal of the natural, diseased cervical disk and the replacement with an artifical joint.
In the anterior cervical disk removal, an incision is made into the patient's neck (B). The cervical disk, which may be herniated, is visualized (C). It is removed completely (D and E). (Illustration by GGS Inc.)
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Definition
One of the most common types of back surgery is disk removal (diskectomy), the removal of an intervertebral disk, the flexible plate that connects any two adjacent vertebrae in the spine. Intervertebral disks act as shock absorbers, protecting the brain and spinal cord from the impact produced by the body's movements.
Description
The surgery is done under general anaesthesia, which puts the patient to sleep and affects the whole body. Operating on the patient's back, the neurosurgeon or orthopedic surgeon makes an opening into the vertebral canal, and then moves the dura and the bundle of nerves called the "cauda equina" (horse's tail) aside, which exposes the disk. If a portion of the disk has moved from between the vertebrae out into the nerve canal, it is simply removed. If the disk itself has become fragmented and partially displaced, or not fragmented but bulging extensively, the surgeon will remove the bulging or displaced part of the disk and the part that lies in the space between the vertebrae.
— Carol A. Turkington
Other Information
Orthopedic complaints are the most common reason to seek medical care.
From: About.com
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