Somerset NHS Foundation Trust have introduced a new surgical technique at Musgrove Park Hospital that means patients who undergo spinal surgery are more likely to recover quicker.
They are the first NHS trust in the south west to purchase an endoscopic spinal surgical system, which will mean many more patients can leave hospital on the same day as their spinal surgery with very little physiotherapy or follow-up care needed.
Mr Ashok Subramanian, one of the consultant spinal surgeons, explains: “There are traditionally a number of risks involved in spinal surgery, particularly with the long incisions made into a patient’s body that often mean they need a long stay in hospital to recover. Even after the patient returns home, they tend to experience back pain for a while, with a slow recovery.
“Spinal surgery involves working close to lots of important structures in the body so surgeons need to be very careful during a procedure.
“Over the years technology has advanced and, as with every other speciality, spinal surgery is evolving too. For example, for knee problems like a meniscus tear – also known as a cartilage injury – we used to perform open knee surgery back in the 1980s, but this is now done by keyhole surgery with patients often going home on the same day with much less recovery time. In fact, it’s now possible for a patient to be back at their work or usual living activity within two weeks, with a reduced risk of infection or arthritis.
“There are, of course, some occasions where this is not possible – mainly for patients with more complex needs.
“Our new endoscopic spinal surgery technique involves inserting a camera into the patient’s spinal canal to remove a piece of bone, ligament, or disc – whatever is causing the problem. All this can be done through a camera under direct and magnified vision.
“One of the key advantages of the technique is that we don’t need to release any of the core spinal muscles, which reduces the chance of back pain for the patient.
“Even a m