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The cervical spine is one of the most important areas of the spinal column, for it houses the spinal cord, the main pathway of information from the brain to the rest of the body. On top of being important, it is also one of the most delicate parts of the body and prone to such conditions as:
- Cervical Herniated Disc
- Cervical Myelopathy
- Spondylolisthesis
- Cervical Scoliosis
- Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease
University Spine Associates specialize in treating these conditions. From adult and adolescent scoliosis to cervical spine stenosis, University Spine Associates is here to help, whether it’s through minimally invasive techniques such as cervical foraminotomies or more involved cervical spine surgeries such as complex cervical spine reconstruction.
Minimally Invasive Techniques
A cervical forminotomy is one option of a minimally invasive cervical spine surgery. This procedure focuses on decompression of nerve roots that may cause shoulder and arm pain due to a disc herniation or bone spur. This procedure is usually only performed when a patient has been diagnosed with a cervical spine condition that is causing isolated arm pain as a result of pressure on the cervical nerve root. Patients with more involved degenerative disc disease and conditions such as cervical cord compression or central cervical stenosis are generally not good candidates for this minimally invasive procedure.
Cervical Spine Surgery
Most surgical intervention in the cervical spine require “ traditional” open techniques. Many of these procedures can still be done in an outpatient surgicenter setting. Dr. Blecher performs most anterior single and two level anterior cervical discectomy and fusions (ACDF) on an outpatient basis where patients go home a few hours following their surgery. More complex cervical spine surgeries require a hospital stay and inpatient post operative observation. Surgeries such as anterior cervical corpectomies and posterior cervical fusions are examples of surgeries that generally require in hospital stay. At University Spine Associates we make sure that the post operative stay in the hospital is optimized. Inpatient physical therapy and excellent nursing is demanded by us. Our patients are constantly encouraged to comment on their post operative course so that we may continuously update the hospitals on how to improve on an already excellent nursing care and physical therapy. |
