Is spine surgery safe ?

Spine surgery is offered to patients if all other non-surgical options have failed or in emergent situations when patients can have irreversible nerve damage without surgery. Spine surgery has been shown to have many benefits in well selected patients, which can be potentially lifechanging. These include:

• improved mobility from pain relief
• Reduced requirement of pain medication
• Better mood
• Return to employment
• Overall better quality of life

Spine surgery is also fraught with potential complications. However in good hands and with modern equipment/drugs these are minimal and usually manageable. These include

• Infection
• Bleeding
• Reactions to Anesthetic drugs
• Dural tears ( tear in protective covering around nerves which is repaired by surgeon and requires 24-48 hours of bed rest)
• Nerve damage, extremely rare, with incidence <1%

Your surgeon will discuss these in detail and gain your confidence before you consent for surgery.