To alleviate low-back pain there are surgical procedures, called spinal fusion, that help restore disc height, and immobilize vertebrae to stop motion at painful joints and reduce any unnatural pressure on the neighboring nerve roots.  These treatments utilize surgical implants and natural bone graft material that is placed between two vertebrae after the surgical removal of the damaged intervertebral disc material.  In healing, the graft material grows in the disc space, joining the two vertebrae together effectively eliminating the painful motion.

Spinal fusion surgery is a common treatment for such spinal disorders as scoliosis, spondylolisthesis, severe disc degeneration, or spinal fractures.  Fusion surgery is usually considered only after extensive non-operative therapies have failed.

Artem Y. Vaynman, M.D. is a Neurosurgeon with special expertise in complex spinal surgery, minimally invasive spinal surgery, and 3D spinal navigation. He has extensive experience in using spinal fusion surgery as a treatment. This treatment may involve PLIF, Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion: in this fusion technique, the vertebrae are reached through an incision in the patient’s back (posterior). The posterior bone of the spinal canal is removed, nerves are retracted, and the disc material is removed from within the disc space. This is followed by insertion of bone graft and sometimes hardware in order to fuse the bones. This procedure is called an “interbody fusion” because it is performed between the “bodies” of the vertebral bones and across the diseased disc space. This procedure is typically performed on both sides of the spine.

Other fusion techniques include TLIF, Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion, similar to PLIF, but frequently performed only from one side, and ALIF, Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion, done from the front (anterior) of the body, usually through an incision in the lower abdominal area or on the side. Newer less invasive techniques are AxiaLIF 360 and AxiaLIF 2L, which involve a small 1-inch incision next to the tailbone.

Dr. Artem Y. Vaynman is one of the few Neurosurgeons on Long Island trained to perform these procedures. Please visit www.nspc.com or call 516-255-9031.