Kern Singh, MD, has lauded the benefits of awake endoscopic spine surgery, which he is using to address spinal conditions such as herniated discs at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush in Chicago, NBC affiliate WMC5 reported April 26.
The minimally invasive procedure has been hailed as the "next generation of spine surgery" by Dr. Singh.
A 7mm camera is inserted through a small incision, which the surgeon uses to "roto-rooter" out the bone spurs and disc bulges to avoid disrupting the surrounding muscle, bone or ligaments, according to Dr. Singh.
He typically performs awake endoscopic procedures in 30 minutes in the outpatient setting, according to the report. Benefits of the procedure include shorter surgery times, less bleeding, no opioids after surgery and quicker recovery times.
Awake endoscopic spine surgery eliminates the risks associated with general anesthesia: Patients are not intubated, which also protects staff from exposure to respiratory secretions directly from the lung.
The biggest risk of the procedure is that not enough tissue is removed during surgery, which Dr. Singh said is attributed to a lack of experience among some surgeons still mastering the procedure.