This is a procedure usually performed on patients who have had six months or more of chronic back and leg pain that has been unresponsive to conservative care. Often the pain is the result of some degenerative process within the disc but could be a result of instability or incompetence of a disc following discectomy. There are several other indications for fusion as well. This is often performed with some type of instrumentation such as threaded interbody cages or screws and plates or rods together with bone graft from the pelvis. The recovery period for spinal fusion surgery is at least six months and can take as long as a year for spinal fusion to occur.
People are quite active and can care for themselves within several weeks of the surgery.
Although spinal fusion can be performed with bone graft alone, more often it is performed with some type of metal instrumentation such as threaded interbody cages or screws and rods or plates. These metal devices stabilize the spine while healing occurs. Bone graft is obtained from the pelvis and placed along with instrumentation. The least invasive procedure uses threaded interbody cages placed laparoscopically through the abdomen. Laparoscopically-assisted spinal surgery has allowed us to shorten our hospital stays and decrease the impact of surgery on patients.