Over 30 Years of Experience

Fax (248) 383-1031

Spinal Conditions Treated Include:

Cranial vertebral Conditions

Cervical

  • Herniated Disc
  • Stenosis
  • Tumors
  • Infections
  • Degenerative Spine Conditions
  • Redo operations
  • Pain and Discomfort
  • Deformity
  • Trauma

Description

  • You will be asleep and feel no pain (general anesthesia).
  • Your surgeon has several choices about where to make the incision (cut).
  • The surgeon may make an incision on your back or neck over the spine. You will be lying face down on a special table. Muscles and tissue are separated to expose the spine.
  • The surgeon may make a cut through one side of your belly (for surgery on your lower back). The surgeon will use tools called retractors to gently separate and hold the soft tissues and blood vessels apart and have room to work.
  • The surgeon may also make the cut on the front of the neck toward the side. Other surgeries, such as a diskectomy, laminectomy, or foraminotomy, are almost always done first.
  • The surgeon will use a graft (such as bone) to hold (or fuse) the bones together permanently. There are several different ways of fusing vertebrae together:
  • Strips of bone graft material may be placed over the back part of the spine.
  • The bone graft material may be placed between the vertebrae.
  • Special cages may be placed between the vertebrae. These cages are packed with bone graft material.
  • The surgeon may get the graft from different places:
  • From another part of your body (usually around your pelvic bone)—called an autograft, where your surgeon will make a small cut over your hip and remove some bone from the back of the rim of the pelvis.
  • From a bone bank called allograft.

A synthetic bone substitute can also be used, but this is not common yet. The vertebrae are often also fixed together with screws, plates, or cages. They are used to keep the vertebrae from moving until the bone grafts are fully healed. Surgery can take 3 to 4 hours. 

Conditions Treated

  • Back and Neck Pain/Injury
  • Cervical and Lumbar Disc Herniation
  • Spinal Cord Injuries
  • Spinal Cysts
  • Spinal Stenosis
  • Spine Trauma/Fractures
  • Spine Tumors

Risks

Risks for any surgery are: 

  • Blood clots in the legs that may travel to the lungs
  • Breathing problems
  • Infection, including in the lungs (pneumonia), bladder, or kidney
  • Blood loss
  • Heart attack or stroke during surgery
  • Reactions to medications

Risks for spine surgery are: 

  • Infection in the wound or vertebral bones
  • Damage to a spinal nerve, causing weakness, pain, loss of sensation, problems with your bowels or bladder

The spinal column above and below the fusion are more likely to cause other back problems later. 

Thoracic

  • Herniated disc
  • Stenosis
  • Tumors
  • Infections
  • Degenerative Spine Conditions
  • Redo operations
  • Thoracic Cyst
  • Deformity
  • Pain and Discomfort
  • Trauma
  • Compression Fractures

Lumbar

  • Herniated disc
  • Stenosis
  • Tumors
  • Infections
  • Degenerative Spine Conditions
  • Redo operations
  • Pain and discomfort
  • Deformity
  • Spondylolisthesis
  • Trauma
  • Compression Fractures

CT Scans

CT scans differ from conventional X-rays by collecting X-rays that have passed through the body (those not absorbed by the tissue) with an electronic detector mounted on a rotating frame rather than on film. The X-ray source and collector rotate around the patient as they emit and absorb X-rays. CT technology then utilizes advanced computer-based mathematical algorithms to combine different readings or views of a patient into a coherent picture usable for diagnosis. 

CT scans increase the scope and safety of imaging procedures that allow physicians to view the arrangement and functioning of the body’s internal structures. With particular regard to neurology, CT scans are used to determine the presence or absence of brain tumors. CT scans usually take about an hour and a half, including preparation time, with the actual examination of neural tissue in a brain scan taking 15-45 minutes. 

X-Rays

Electromagnetic radiation of extremely short wavelength (100 nanometers to 0.001 nanometers) is produced by the deceleration of charged particles or the transitions of electrons in atoms. X-rays travel at the speed of light and exhibit phenomena associated with waves, but experiments indicate that they can also behave like particles (see wave-particle duality).  

On the electromagnetic spectrum, they lie between gamma rays and ultraviolet radiation. They were discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who named them X-rays for their unknown nature. They are used in medicine to diagnose bone fractures, dental cavities, and cancer, to locate foreign objects in the body, and to stop the spread of malignant tumors. In other industries, they are used to analyze and detect flaws in structures.