Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Your care team may recommend surgery when nonsurgical options are not effectively treating your spinal condition. At Northwestern Medicine, we use minimally invasive surgery when we think it will give you results that are similar to — or better than — traditional open surgery.
Understanding Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery
Through minimally invasive spine surgery, your surgeon can treat your condition with smaller incisions (cuts) than traditional open spine surgery.
Potential benefits of minimally invasive spine surgery include:
- Lower risk of infection and post-surgery pain
- Less impact on your soft tissue and muscles, which may allow them to heal faster
- Less pain, scarring, and blood loss
- Shorter hospital stays and faster recovery
- Less damage to the tissue around your spine
- Less need for pain medication
Conditions Treated
Minimally invasive spine surgery may be used to treat conditions including:
- Fractured vertebra
- Herniated Disk
- Infection in spine
- Spinal deformities (like scoliosis)
- Spinal instability
- Spinal Stenosis
- Spine tumor
- Spondylolisthesis (when a vertebra slips forward)
- Spondylolysis or pars defect (a defect in lower part of a vertebrae)
Treatments
Your surgeon can talk with you about these minimally invasive spine surgeries and if they may be right for you.
- Anterior lumbar interbody fusion
- Endoscopic decompression
- Endoscopic discectomy
- Endoscopic posterior cervical foraminotomy
- Kyphoplasty and Vertebroplasty
- Lateral interbody fusion
- Microdiscectomy
- Percutaneous fusion
- Port (tube)-assisted decompression
- Port (tube)-assisted discectomy
- Port (tube)-assisted transforaminal interbody fusion
- Posterior Cervical Foraminotomy
- TELIGEN
- Teligen-assisted decompression
- Teligen-assisted discectomy
- Teligen-assisted transforaminal interbody fusion
- Teligen-assisted tumor resection
- Vertebroplasty
Meet the Team
Why Choose Northwestern Medicine
- Nationally recognized programs: Specialty programs among the top-ranked in the nation, per U.S. News & World Report, 2024 – 2025, for orthopaedics as well as neurology and neurosurgery.
- Personalized treatment plans. Our specialists collaborate to provide a comprehensive assessment, then tailor a treatment plan to your unique needs.
- Surgical expertise: Our surgical team includes orthopaedic surgeons and neurological surgeons to ensure you get the right care from the right clinician for your specific condition.
- Advanced diagnosis and treatment: At Northwestern Medicine, you will have access to many of the latest imaging and diagnostic tools available, as well as advanced surgical and nonsurgical treatment options.
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