What is minimally invasive spine surgery?

The treatment of spinal disorders has been advanced using minimally invasive endoscopic surgical techniques in which surgery is performed with special instruments inserted through small incisions. Endoscopic spinal surgery represents a major advance in the treatment of spinal disorders. It can be used instead of open surgical techniques for procedures such as spinal decompression and fusion.

Instead of cutting the muscles of the chest, back or abdomen to access the spine, using wide painful incisions, endoscopy uses small incisions that separate and preserve the muscles and normal tissues, while allowing the spinal pathology to be fully treated. Endoscopic surgery has been shown to have many clinical benefits over open surgery, including reduced incision pain, shorter hospital stays, better cosmetic results, faster recovery and faster return to work and normal activities.

What are the symptoms of a stroke?

The most common symptoms are sudden numbness, weakness, vision and speech changes, problems with your balance or severe headache. The symptoms of a stroke tend to come on relatively quickly. A person could suddenly become unable to move, feel or see. If there is no other explanation at that time, it could be a stroke, and emergency treatment should be sought.

What are the two types of stroke?

The two types are an ischemic stroke where the blockage comes from the heart or a blood vessel and travels to the brain. The type of stroke is called a hemorrhagic stroke and that is when a blood vessel in the brain bursts.

What is a TIA?

It's a transient ischemic attack. Essentially a blocked blood vessel causes the symptoms. The symptoms are manifested by not being able to do something such as see, feel, speak or hear. Then the blockage essentially goes away and the blood flow is restored.

A person who has had a TIA is considered more likely to have a full-blown stroke. TIAs are actually a warning because a patient may experience symptoms, and then feel better. Physicians say even if the patient feels "normal," emergency treatment should be sought so a physician can determine the source of the symptoms. It is considered an emergency that neurologists call a brain attack. They want people with these symptoms to immediately seek emergency treatment at a hospital.

How are strokes being managed differently now than in the past?

Medical professionals believe people should view a stroke as they would a heart attack. In both situations, there is little time to prevent the damage that can be done. If the brain cells are fully deprived of oxygen and glucose, they start dying immediately.

The medicine for stroke management is acute treatment with tissue plasminogen activator, or TPA, (clot busting medicine). It can be given to people within three (3) hours of the time their symptoms started.

Some medical centers, including Memorial Regional Hospital, are considered Comprehensive Stroke Centers and can perform more invasive procedures, such as a catheter procedure to remove the blockage. Additionally they can treat a hemorrhagic stroke using catheters to inject materials into the bleeding area to stop the bleeding. This can extend the treatment window beyond three hours, up to eight hours. Our interventional neuroradiologists perform these types of procedures.