Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Advancements at Mayo Clinic

The goal of minimally invasive surgery is to minimize the damage to soft tissue around the spine, including less pain, shorter stays in the hospital, faster return to work; all of the things that we want for our patients. We're working very hard to improve every aspect of care for our spine surgery patients. We're using virtual reality technology to help us educate patients ahead of surgery. We're using it to plan for surgery. We're also using it in the operating room to help us visualize structures and increase the safety of surgery. We're also working on enhancing recovery after surgery for our spine surgery patients.

Most surgeries fall into one of three categories. The first category is decompression surgery. With decompression surgery, we're making small incisions, maybe using an endoscope or a slightly smaller tubular retractor to go down and remove tissue that's pressing on the spinal cord or nerve roots. 

Another type of surgery that we do is called disc replacement surgery or arthroplasty surgery. We remove a desk and we replace it with a device that maintains natural movement within that joint. 

A third type of surgery that we do is called spinal fusion surgery. With spinal fusion surgery we're trying to fix two or more bones together. We need to place, most of the time, some sort of instrumentation into the body. That includes rods, screws, plates, sometimes cages into the disk space to hold those bones together so that over time a bridge of bone grows between those levels, fusing them together.

We look at each patient and we look for the least invasive way to address their problem. What we don't want to make is minimally invasive surgery, minimally effective. As a spine surgeon working at Mayo Clinic, it is incredibly gratifying and rewarding and exciting to offer patients the latest technologies and minimally invasive surgery techniques. Our goal for every patient is to help the patients recover quickly and get back to life.