Spine surgery FAQ

Surgery is usually the last option. You are generally asked to rest, take some medicines and do some exercises. If you do not improve, you can be given a trial of epidural injection, and if that fails you might need surgery.

Only a few patients need urgent surgery: those with severe pain despite all treatment, who cannot sit, who have developed bladder or bowel problems, or who have weakness of the foot or the entire leg.

With newer techniques and surgical expertise, a patient with no paralysis before surgery is less likely to develop it during or after the operation. Deformity correction is considered separately.

If you already have a neurological deficit when you come in, for example after a traumatic injury, it may not recover after the operation. Your doctor will guide you if this applies to you.

1. Slipped disc: microscopic or endoscopic discectomy, foraminotomy, or discectomy with fusion if there is instability.
2. Spinal canal stenosis: laminectomy and decompression, or decompression with fusion (TLIF, PLIF, XLIF).
3. Listhesis (sliding vertebra): reduction of the slip, decompression and fusion.
4. Osteoporotic wedging: vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty.
5. Koch’s spine: decompression with stabilisation and fusion.
6. Traumatic spine injury: fixation with decompression and correction of any collapse.

It depends on the type. A micro-discectomy takes around 35–40 minutes. Deformity correction takes a few hours, from 3–4 hours up to 12–15 hours.

Most spine surgeries need general anaesthesia, but endoscopic discectomy is done under local anaesthesia. If you cannot tolerate general anaesthesia, the surgery can be performed under local.

Prolapsed intervertebral disc surgery: 3 days. Laminectomy: 4 days. Pedicle screw fixation: 5 days. Tuberculosis of the spine and scoliosis correction: 7 days.