|
Lumbar spinal stenosis is surgically treated by orthopedic spine surgeons and neurosurgeons, which we will refer to collectively as “spine surgeons”. Treatment for patients diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis depends on the severity of the disease, which corresponds to the degree of spinal decompression required. Early-stage patients with mild stenosis who do not need a decompression may experience pain relief from an interspinous process device.
Spinal decompression surgery is a general term that refers to various procedures intended to relieve symptoms caused by pressure, or compression, on the spinal cord and/or nerve roots.
The following are common techniques for decompression to relieve pressure on the nerves:
-
Laminectomy, which involves removing the lamina (bony arches over the spinal canal) to increase the size of the spinal canal.
-
Facetectomy, which involves removing both the lamina and enlarged facet joints to increase the size of the spinal canal as well.
-
Foraminectomy, which involves expanding the openings for the nerve roots to exit the spinal cord by removing some bone and other tissue.
-
Osteophyte removal, which involves removing bony growths called osteophytes or bone spurs.
The extent of the decompression may lead the surgeon to combine the bone removal process with a fusion procedure in order to restabilize the segment. Spinal fusion is a procedure by which two or more of the vertebrae are fused together into one bone segment with bone grafts and implantable devices such as metal rods, plates, screws, and cages.
While fusion relieves pain, it introduces significant biomechanical problems, The surgery eliminates all motion between vertebrae segments and takes away some of the patient's spinal flexibility. Clinical studies indicate that rigid fixation leads to the transfer of spinal loads from the fused segment to the adjacent mobile vertebrae. This unnatural physiological development can stimulate a degenerative process at those adjacent segments. More than 400,000 lumbar spinal fusions are performed worldwide each year.
The TOPS™ System is a motion-sparing alternative to spinal fusion for patients with moderate to severe lumbar spinal stenosis at a single level between L3 and L5 which may be accompanied by facet arthrosis, and/or degenerative spondylolisthesis up to grade I.
|
