open vs minimally invasive lunbar laminectomy

Posted by hondaman @hondaman, 5 days ago

having lumbar Laminectomy jan 28 did i make a mistake doing open surgery . have to due 2 levels no . my dr says he can see better with open.. he is top dr and doing it in hospital where all my drs are one reason i picked any do the open methos

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Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | 5 days ago

@hondaman I don’t think an open laminectomy vs minimal invasive is a mistake. Your surgeon makes a good point that he can see better with open surgery. I had an open ACDF surgery and the recovery was not bad at all. I didn’t take pain medication and I did fine. It was tolerable healing pain. The meds nauseated me, so that was an easy choice.

sherrym25 | @sherrym25 | 4 days ago

@hondaman on December 11, almost 5 weeks ago, I had minimally invasive surgery where my L4 was fused through T 10. My surgery was eight hours long. When given the choice whether to do open or minimally invasive, I easily chose minimally invasive based on less trauma to my body, and predicted less pain and faster healing.

What I realized afterwards was that it is so much more work for the surgeon to perform a minimally invasive surgery. If he had done an open surgery on my back, it would’ve been two hours max. It is much easier and quicker and yes they have a better view when utilizing the open method.
That being said, I am so grateful that my surgeon was willing to spend the time and effort to perform the minimally invasive surgery on me!!!!