Foraminotomy

When these openings are reduced due to a spinal problem or injury, there is less room for the nerves to pass between the bones. This sometimes causes a pinched nerve and the usual unsettling symptoms, including pain, tingling, numbness and/or weakness.

Foraminotomy Indications

Herniated discs

Degenerative disc disease

Arthritis in the spine

General foraminal stenosis

All of these conditions can create narrow neuroforamen, which can cause pain and other neurological back pain symptoms. It must be noted that this surgical technique is often added to other procedures when the cause of foraminal space narrowing is caused by some type of abnormal spinal curvature, like kyphosis or lordosis, as well as when the causative mechanism is a vertebral misalignment issue, like retrolisthesis or anterolisthesis. However, it is most commonly used in combination with discectomy procedures.

Foraminotomy Procedure

If the surgeon is trained in minimally invasive procedures, then the operation can be done with an endoscope. This will save the patient much recovery time, pain and damage to healthy tissue. The surgeon will access the problem area and use sophisticated tools to carefully enlarge the neuroforamen, thereby decompressing the spinal nerve root. When the foraminal opening is large enough to once again allow healthy nerve signal, the surgeon will close the incision.

Some foraminal procedures are now completed using the innovative anterior approach. This saves the patient from any disturbance to the sensitive back muscle anatomy. Healing time is further improved and post-operative discomfort reduced over other types of minimally invasive approaches.

Recovery from Surgery

The patient will have to take it easy for a few weeks and do only limited physical activity. Physical therapy is common to help the patient regain full range of motion.

It is crucial that postoperative patients follow aftercare instructions to the letter to minimize their chances for infection and other common and potentially serious complications.

Foraminotomy Risks

If your surgeon does not inform you of the risk factors in advance, be sure to bring these up in conversation. Do not let any doctor make your feel foolish for inquiring about the health risks of a surgical procedure. Also, do not let any doctor downplay the risks of minimally invasive techniques. Any procedure which enters the body can enact significant health consequences, including chronic pain, lasting anatomical injury or even death.

Recommendations for Foraminotomy

Degenerated discs are normal for people as they age, as is spinal arthritis. Both of these conditions will result in smaller neuroforamen. However, most people do not experience pain from these normal conditions.

Most quality doctors advise avoiding back surgery, unless the situation is dire and an operation is the only possible solution. If it is your last resort, make sure to choose a surgeon who will use a minimally invasive procedure if at all possible.

Pinched nerves are one of the most often misdiagnosed of all back ache sources. In a great number of cases, there is foraminal encroachment and maybe even nerve contact or displacement. However, unless the nerve is actually compressed, there is not likely to be any symptoms or only mild and transitory symptoms. This helps to explain the poor treatment results offered to many patients. If there is any doubt as to the validity of the diagnostic theory, wait for surgery until more definitive evidence can be produced.

Remember also that for many conditions which are actually causing a compressive neuropathy, nonsurgical care offered by techniques like spinal decompression may resolve the structural issue and allow the patient to find a cure without surgical intervention. This is always a less risky and far preferred path of treatment.