What You Should Know about Targeted Endoscopic Decompressions

New-Age technique

Patients who have undergone multilevel open decompression for back problems, with or without fusion, have experienced little success, which has led some doctors to prefer targeted endoscopic decompressions instead. This solution is suitable for patients who prefer less invasive approaches to pain relief, especially those who’ve experienced a failed back surgery. Procedures such as targeted endoscopic decompressions are considered by the pain management community to be a safer approach to surgical correction and less invasive in the treatment of long-term back disability. This is true with patients who have degenerative disc diseases, among other back issues. Dr. Clement Yeh possesses the diagnostic skill set to identify these back issues and make the necessary intervention, using targeted endoscopic decompression. Here are a few things you should know about the procedure.

An alternative to Open Surgery

Because of the risks associated with open surgery, some patients may be afraid to undergo an open spine procedure, so they’ll put off the surgery and opt for an alternative method of treatment. Targeted endoscopic decompression might be the appropriate solution for them as it is a less invasive approach. The procedure utilizes the same skill set that surgeons already possess when targeting a site. Targeted endoscopic decompression can be used to remove the bone spur at the most anatomically significant site of compression. With this procedure, patients no longer put off surgery and they are able to get relief much earlier in the disease process.

Targeting Patients on the Anatomic Level

This is a significant shift in the treatment of the spine, where physicians target the primary anatomic cause of the problem instead of focusing on the physiological level of the issue. There is always a primary anatomic cause to back problems, for instance, if you look at the cases of symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis. Examples of anatomic causes include arthritic spurs or hypertrophic ligaments.

Eliminates Multiple Intervention Sites

In the past, a surgeon would look for the general source of back or spinal pain, and try to decompress the multiple spaces around the area for pain relief. However, with the targeted endoscopic decompression technique, the surgeon is able to find the exact source of the problem and decompress at one specific site instead of two or more. Even with patients who have multiple compression issues, they will still require more than one targeted endoscopic decompression, but this time around, the intervention will be specific and will have fewer risks than the traditional approach. The past approach has resulted in the decompression of a broad, irrelevant area of stenosis.

Reduces the Rate of Complication

Compared to the open approach, the targeted endoscopic decompression is a less invasive approach, which means there are fewer risks of complications and the rate of infections is much lower. During recovery and rehabilitation, the patient will need to use fewer drugs, and will begin the recommended therapies much quicker since a relatively small part of their anatomy was interfered with.

Targeted endoscopic decompression is the next step in the evolution of minimally invasive spinal treatment. The amount of tissue disrupted during the treatment is significantly less, as opposed to the more invasive and traditional methods, which require resection of significant amounts of tissue just to gain access to the site. This reduced trauma to the patient provides patients with an overall higher rate of satisfaction, due to faster recovery.