Percutaneous Laser Discectomy.
Why is it better??
In the specific case of the spine and taking as example the most common condition in it as serious disc herniation, lumbar either (on the lower back) or cervical (neck), progress in recent years have been very important through the application of bio-medical engineering and the development of sophisticated machines and equipment they have with the ultimate goal of treatment of this disabling disease of the spine that causes so much trouble for the normal development of the normal activity of daily life with a diminishing aggression to operate the patient.
Classically to correct the herniated disc were proceeding to open surgical intervention, known as laminectomy, but given that this technique entailed many disadvantages for some patients began to appear percutaneous (ie through the skin, through a small hole). First came the chemo (nucleolysis of percutaneous lumbar discs-Choy-New.Engl.J.Med), which was injected into the intervertebral disc to disc herniation had a substance capable of destroying the disc tissue, it brought some problems since the extent of disk destruction could not be controlled accurately and was abandoned.
Then came the open disc surgery with a microscope, equal to the laminectomy wound but smaller, produced less instability but could produce classical laminectomy as the "epidural fibrosis, is still practiced, but less than before.
Then came the Percutaneous Discectomy (chirurgie percutanne the herniated disk lumbaire-camille roy, Benazet - Saillant. Enciclop. Med-chirurgicale. Paris) or removal of the herniated disc through a small hole in the skin, and instruments were introduced Very fine without touching the column and thus achieve remove the damaged disc tissue without eliminating completely the disk and reducing intradiscal pressure, this crucial element in the genesis of the herniated disk. This technique does not produce fibrosis, and destabilizes the spine without the use of plates, screws, hospitalization (since it is ambulatory) and is performed without general anesthesia. Moreover, its cost is infinitely lower than the other techniques.
Currently, it has resorted to the treatment of herniated discs by using the Holmium laser or "laser touch" (The ablation capacity of holmium-Yag laser in lumbar discs interverbral-Leu et coll-Zurich-Switzerland), This technique can be summarized as follows: to be inserted percutaneously a cannula, less thick than a plastic pen spare parts, which includes a laser fiber, a micro-TV camera, and irrigation hoses aspiration, besides having a mechanism to mobilize the tip of the fiber laser according to the requirements of the surgeon, thus allowing you to have precise control over the instrument.