Endoscopic procedure - a minimally invasive procedure for spinal treatment
During an endoscopic procedure, only an 8mm short incision is made at the skin level. The muscle is not incised but dilated with dilators so that an approximately 6 mm wide camera can be inserted towards the spine. The camera contains a working channel that can be used to remove a herniated disk or to insert a cutter to widen the spinal cord. The wounds hardly bleed after the procedure and therefore drainage is usually not needed.
Minimally invasive procedure of endoscopic surgical spinal treatment is the most advanced approach of contemporary surgery. However, its popularity has been growing rapidly in recent years. And no wonder, as it has many advantages. Compared to conventional invasive surgery, it has a faster recovery time, but also significantly lower health risks. The probability of postoperative wound infection is only 0.001%, compared to 3% for conventional invasive procedures.
Although the health risks of minimally invasive fully endoscopic surgery are very low and we recommend this surgical procedure to the vast majority of patients, there are also high-risk patients for whom conventional treatment should be preferred. Therefore, we perform a thorough pre-operative evaluation of each patient to ensure the most appropriate treatment.