Orthopedic Surgery
What Are the Most Common Orthopedic Surgeries?
There are many different orthopedic surgeries that surgeons perform. These surgeries address different parts of the body, and while they are still invasive procedures, many are very routine.
Some are even now minimally invasive thanks to improvements in technology. Your orthopedic doctor will help you understand the specific surgery you need, including what it involves, what the risks are, and what other options, if any, you might have.
If you’ve been told that you need surgery, it does help to know if what you’re dealing with is common or not. To that end, here are some of the most common orthopedic surgeries.
Knee Replacement
The knee is one of the most used joints in the body, but unfortunately, that means it’s often over-used to the point of injury. Knee replacement surgery can either replace some (a partial replacement) or all (total replacement) of the knee joint with an artificial one.
In most cases, this is necessary because the cartilage in the joint has been damaged, restricting movement or making it very painful to move. There are a number of things that can cause this, including trauma to the knee, bursitis, and obesity.
ACL Surgery
The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is an integral part of the knee and runs diagonally across the front. It helps keep you stable when you rotate on your leg. If this ligament has been torn, reconstructive surgery is needed to repair it.
This surgery involves taking part of a tendon from elsewhere in the body and grafting it onto the damaged part of the ACL. Usually, this surgery isn’t major and the patient can return home the same day.
Hip Replacement
Another common joint that is commonly replaced is the hip. The hip is made up of the acetabulum (the socket) and the femoral head (the ball).
Like the knee, the cartilage in the hip and wear over time, especially if it’s damaged. Also like the knee, there are two different types of replacement surgeries.
In many cases, the entire joint is replaced. However, there is another procedure known as Birmingham Hip Resurfacing that only replaces the part of the joint that are damaged. This isn’t always an option, though.
Shoulder Replacement
Another common joint replacement surgery is on the shoulder. Like the knee or the hip, the shoulder is put under a lot of stress regularly.
Generally, the upper part of the humerus, the bone in the upper arm, is removed and replaced with a metal ball. A plastic replacement is then put in to replace the damaged part of the socket.
However, if your rotator cuff is damaged, too, then the socket is generally made of metal and the plastic replacement is used on the arm bone.
Spinal surgery Overview
Although spinal surgery procedures can be mainly categorised as neurosurgical procedures in some countries today many Orthopedic surgeons specialize in spinal problems and perform complex intervention on the spine in order to treat many diseases. Furthermore in many cases this intervention are performed multidisciplinary in order to get the best results. For example in an anterior approach (from the abdomen) an orthopedist, a neurosurgeon and a general surgeon may take part in the operation. With this being said you can easily understand that it’s important that you choose a very good and well equipped center to make this kinds of interventions.
-DaVitis can find the best hospitals in turkey who employ only the most experienced and skillful surgeons in a very short time and with a contained price for you.
Common spine surgical procedures
There are a number of conditions that may lead to spine surgery. Common procedures include:
- Discectomyor Microdiscectomy: Removal of a herniated intervertebral disc. Therefore, removing pressure from the compressed nerve. Microdiscectomy is a MISS procedure.
- Laminectomy:Removal of the thin bony plate on the back of the vertebra called the laminae to increase space within the spinal canal and relieve pressure.
- Laminotomy:Removal of a portion of the vertebral arch (lamina) that covers the spinal cord. A laminotomy removes less bone than a laminectomy.
Both laminectomy and laminotomy are decompression “Decompression” usually means tissue compressing a spinal nerve is removed. - Foraminotomy:Removal of bone or tissue at/in the passageway (called the neuroforamen) where nerve roots branch off the spinal cord and exit the spinal column.
- Disc replacement:As an alternative to fusion, the injured disc is replaced with an artificial one.
- Spinal fusion:A surgical technique used to join two vertebrae. Spinal fusion may include the use of bone graft with or without instrumentation (eg, rods, screws). There are different types of bone graft, such as your own bone (autograft) and donor bone (allograft). A fusion can be accomplished by different approaches:
ALIF, PLIF, TLIF, LIF: All pertain to lumbar interbody fusion used to stabilize the spinal vertebrae and eliminate movement between the bones.
- Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion
- Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion
- Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion indicates a surgical approach through the foramen.
- Lateral Interbody Fusion in which the minimally invasive approach is from the side of the body.
Spinal instrumentation
Examples of spinal instrumentation include plates, bone screws, rods, and interbody devices; although, there are other types of devices your surgeon may recommend in treatment of your spinal disorder. The purpose of instrumentation is to stabilize or fix the spine in position until the fusion solidifies.
- An interbody cage is a permanent prosthesis left in place to maintain the foraminal height (eg, space between two vertebral bodies) and decompression following surgery.
- Interspinous process devices (ISP) reduce the load on the facet joints, restore foraminal height, and provide stability in order to improve the clinical outcome of surgery. An advantage of an ISP is that it requires less exposure to place within the spine and therefore is a MISS procedure.
- Pedicle screws help to hold the vertebral body in place until the fusion is complete.
Some patients are at-risk for their fusion not to heal properly or completely. Your surgeon may refer to this as a non-fusion, pseudarthrosis or a failed fusion. To help avoid fusion problems, your surgeon may recommend a bone growth stimulation. There are different types of stimulators; those implanted internally and others that are worn about the body area, such as the neck or low back.
Should surgical treatment be your only recourse, it may help to understand that minimally invasive spine surgery offers many benefits. Patients who want to return to work and active play, as well as the elderly or those with major spinal problems, often achieve a higher level of function once symptoms are alleviated.
patients that we treated
Kyphoscoliosis Spine Surgerry
Deciding to make a life changing surgery to your child is a very difficult decision in itself. But choosing the Surgeon and the hospital where the intervention is going to take place is even harder. We as at Davitis understand and empathize with how the patient and their families feel, fully conscious of this big responsibility given to us . So, accordingly, we do all the necessary research and consultation with the best surgeons and hospital/clinics in Turkey before offering them the best ones to choose from. And here we have a concrete example of Kyphoscoliosis correction surgery gone perfect thanks to the right choices made possible by us.