At Rocky Mountain Advanced Spine Access, we combine less invasive anterior and minimally invasive anterolateral spine exposure techniques to provide a broad range of spine exposure options, providing substantial benefit to our patients when compared to traditional open surgical approaches.
Less Invasive Anterior Spinal Access Surgery (LISS)
The term less invasive, or ‘mini-open’, spine exposure refers to spinal access procedures performed through small incisions, typically less than 2 inches. A muscle sparing, retroperitoneal approach allows wide exposure of the spine. This can be achieved through these small, tissue preserving procedures, allowing optimal spine fusion while minimizing recovery time.
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Minimally Invasive Anterolateral Spinal Access Surgery (MISS)
The oblique lateral interbody fusion (OLIF™) and extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF™) were designed to take advantage of the lateral disc space because it is remote from the major blood vessels which lie directly on the spine. Even smaller incisions (< 1 inch) can be used, making these techniques truly minimally invasive. Specialized dilating systems, retractors, and instruments make this minimally invasive approach to spinal fusion possible.
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Why Anterior Spinal Access Surgery?
The anterior spine space includes the tissues, organs, and blood vessels, along with the vertebral bodies and intervertebral discs, which all lie in front of, or anterior to, the spinal cord. Anterior spinal surgery typically requires a spinal access surgeon experienced in safely creating a pathway to the spine. Ideally, they have also received dedicated training in advanced exposure techniques in order to be able to provide a full complement of exposure options. Because many spine conditions originate from disc degeneration, or breakdown, the most direct route of access to the discs is actually from the front. More of the disc can be removed and larger spacers (with higher fusion rates) can be placed from the front. The other distinct advantage of anterior spine surgery is potentially eliminating the need to cut through the back muscles. When spine surgery is performed from the back only, traditional techniques involve separating, and potentially destroying, the back muscles which run along the spine, resulting in significant pain and destabilization.
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Less Scarring
Traditional spine exposures have been performed through large abdominal incisions which can result in unsightly scars, not to mention scarring around critical organs like the intestines. Dramatically smaller incisions along with retroperitoneal spine exposure techniques means barely noticeable incisional scars, while also eliminating the risk of intra-abdominal scar formation for our patients.
Less Pain, Faster Recovery
Smaller incisions with muscle sparing, retroperitoneal spine exposure, mean less post-operative pain and discomfort. When compared to traditional open spine exposure, these techniques have been proven to decrease post-procedural recovery time and need for narcotic pain medication, resulting in a better quality of life. Ultimately, this means that patients are home faster, sometimes in less than 24 hours.
What Makes RMASA Unique?
While a variety of surgical specialists perform anterior spine exposure procedures, relatively few have made a primary practice of this subspecialty. At RMASA, we have dedicated ourselves to the practice of spinal access surgery. This means performing multiple spinal access procedures on a daily basis, leading to a high-volume case experience, with over 2,000 exposures performed to date. Also, this exceptionally high degree of expertise has led to numerous opportunities for advancing techniques through education. Dr. Schoeff has personally trained over 100 surgeons across the country on these surgical approaches and continues to teach and proctor on these advanced techniques. In this highly specialized era of medical and surgical treatment, you want the very best taking care of you, not just someone who occasionally performs these procedures.
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Spine Access Procedures
Anterior Lumbar
Interbody Fusion
Using a less invasive, or ‘mini-open’ approach to anterior spine exposure, the Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF) can now be performed through small incisions with minimal tissue trauma resulting in optimal patient outcomes.