@otavares Oly, I described my surgeon's procedure to you in this post earlier in this discussion. https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/1007939/

He did not use a vibrating scalpel because that is a bone cutting tool, and he didn't need to do that. I wouldn't think that pointing a sharp vibrating instrument at the spinal cord in close proximity when you can't see the spinal cord is a good idea. It is better to go slower with easily controlled rongeurs in your hand. If you hit the spinal cord while going through a disc, it will cause damage. Surgeons don't want to touch it and you can't move the spinal cord as told to me by my surgeon.

I'm not a surgeon, but think about it. My surgeon's notes say he used a bur to grind the vertebral end plates because they need to straighten them so they can put a straight milled bone disc in there. That is a power tool used gently after the disc end plate can be completely visualized.

If you think you can watch, you can search and find spine surgery videos online and see what this procedure looks like. It's kind of messy looking if you don't know what you are looking at. Sometimes a surgeon's tools are specialized for whatever implant (such as a artificial disc) that he is implanting. If you start looking up the various implants available and go to manufacturer's websites you can find that information that is there for surgeons to view.

Patients are not qualified to pick the tools for surgeons. That shouldn't be the reason to choose a surgeon or surgery because you don't know how, why or where the use of a tool is appropriate. If a surgeon explains what he does in this much detail and you understand his reasoning, then it may make sense, but most surgeons try to explain things in common language so as not to freak out their patients because patients won't understand unless they are trained in surgical careers.

Jennifer