Spinal Fusion

Back pain can affect any part of your spine. There are many causes. Some can make your spine unstable and putting pressure on your spinal cord and nerves.

If non-surgical treatments, such as physical therapy or medication, don’t relieve your symptoms, your doctor may recommend surgery. With advances in spine surgery, effective options can address back pain and put you on the road to recovery. Spinal fusion is one of the options we offer.

Spinal fusion surgery permanently joins together two or more vertebrae, the bones of your spine. This procedure may reshape your spine and prevent movement between the bones, which may eliminate your pain. Spinal fusion provides more stability for your back and may take pressure off your spinal cord or nerves.

Cervical spinal fusion involves joining vertebrae in your neck area, while lumbar spinal fusion involves vertebrae in your lower back. Thoracic spinal fusion involves the bones of your middle back.

Spinal fusion surgery essentially turns multiple vertebrae into a single bone. Surgeons use a bone graft to help the bones grow together. The graft may involve bone tissue from your own body, such as your hip, or it may come from a donor. Your doctor may also choose to use artificial bone graft material.

Surgeons place the bone or synthetic material between the vertebrae being fused. Over time, your body builds new bone around the graft. The surgeon may use plates, screws and rods to help hold the vertebrae together as the new bone grows. Surgeons may also recommend wearing a brace after surgery. A brace can help speed the fusion process along.

Doctors usually consider spinal fusion only when non-surgical treatments don’t help. However, if you’ve had a serious injury that requires stabilizing your spine to avoid further damage or paralysis, surgery may be a first-line treatment.

Conditions we can treat with spinal fusion include:

• Compression fracture
• Degenerative disk disease
• Herniated disk
• Infection
• Scoliosis
• Spinal stenosis
• Spondylolisthesis
• Spondylosis
• Tumor

Doctors will talk with you to determine if spinal fusion surgery is the best treatment for you.

Depending on the location of your surgery and other factors, you may receive general or regional anesthesia. General anesthesia causes you to be asleep during your operation. Regional anesthesia numbs the area of your surgery, but you remain awake. In both cases, you won’t feel pain during your procedure.

The nature of your condition and its location determines your surgeon’s approach to your spine. Sometimes, your surgeon will access your spine from incisions in the front of your body. This is called an anterior approach. Posterior spinal fusion involves approaching your spine from the back of your body. In a lateral approach, your surgeon reaches your spine from the side.

Surgeons can do open surgery to provide a full view of the surgical area. But often, we use minimally invasive techniques that require only small incisions and special tools. We’re proud to partner with Mayfield Brain and Spine Surgeons to offer Mazor X™, one of these minimally invasive options. We are the only health system in the region to offer this state-of-the-art technology.

During spinal fusion surgery, doctors may also do other procedures, such as removing any bone or damaged tissue pressing on nerves.

In total, surgery may take several hours. You will usually spend a few days in the hospital before going home.

Before surgery, you can take several steps to help your procedure go well and have a smooth recovery.

If you use tobacco, it’s a good time to give up the habit. Nicotine prevents bone growth and reduces the chances of successful fusion. It’s best to avoid all tobacco products.

It’s helpful to review your discharge instructions from your surgeon before surgery. That way you can ask any questions about what recovery will be like and what steps you can take to prepare.

Since you’ll have limited mobility after recovery, you will want to set up a recovery area in your home. When you leave the hospital, plan to take it easy. Fully healing from spinal fusion may take several months.

We will teach you how to move safely after surgery. But your doctor will likely advise only light activities at first. You may lose  some spine flexibility, but it’s usually in only a limited area. Several weeks into your recovery, your doctor may suggest physical therapy.

You will have some pain after surgery, but your surgeon will usually prescribe medication for short-term pain relief. Be sure to follow all instructions regarding your medicine and other aspects of your spinal fusion recovery. That’s the best way to get on your feet again.