Ask A Specialist – Endoscopic spine surgery

It’s National Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Month, and The Queen’s Medical Center is taking the opportunity to educate the public about the latest advancements in spinal cord treatments.

Dr. Lance Mitsunaga, orthopedic spine surgeon at The Queen’s Medical Center says endoscopic spine surgery is a relatively newer surgery.

“It all starts with an ultra-tiny incision, about seven millimeters or so. So smaller than the size of a dime. And through that small incision, we can pass through what we call an endoscope, which is kind of a specialized camera down into the spine. This allows me to see all the important structures in the spine magnified on our high-definition monitor,” said Mitsunaga. “And the really cool thing about these endoscopes it has a little channel, a little opening down the center of it that allows me to pass all these really cutting-edge endoscopic instruments that allow me to target different target areas in the neck and back.”

When most people think about spine surgery, they think about traditional or open spine surgery. That involves big, wide, open incisions.

“But that style of surgery can cause a lot of collateral damage to the important muscles or ligaments that stabilize the spine, which can lead to problems such as post-operative pain, infection, bleeding. We’re not talking about big incisions anymore, we’re talking about incisions that are so small that at the end of the surgery, we can sometimes just apply a band-aid and get the patient home the same day. So, we’re seeing a lot of benefits to spine endoscopy, compared to older styles of spine surgery,” said Mitsunaga.

In addition to smaller incisions, other benefits include reduced blood loss, less muscle damage, reduced risk of infection and shorter hospital stays.

Mitsunaga says spine endoscopy can treat most spine and neck conditions, such as pinched nerves in the neck and the lower back, as well as certain types of cancers and infections in the spine.

“So, spine endoscopy has been a real game changer in my practice because it can be applied to a lot of different spine problems,” Mitsunaga said.

To learn more about the services provided by Queen’s Orthopedic Spine Center, call 691-6511 or ask your physician for a referral.