At UK HealthCare, our comprehensive team of experts works together to create the treatment plan that best fits your specific needs.
Treatment for cauda equina syndrome usually requires immediate surgery to relieve pressure on your nerves.
During this procedure, your surgical team will remove damaged lamina — part of a vertebra in your spine.
Before your laminectomy, you will get general anesthesia so you will sleep during the procedure. Your surgeon will make an incision in your neck or back and move the ligaments, muscles and tissues to the side to access the lamina bones. During the procedure, your surgeon may remove:
- All or part of the lamina bones on each side of your spine
- The sharp part of your spine (the spinous process)
- Bone spurs
- Disk fragments
- Other soft tissues
In some cases, spinal fusion may be performed at the same time. The surgery usually takes one to three hours.
After your anesthesia wears off, your surgeon will encourage you to take short walks with help (if you didn’t have spinal fusion). You may remain in the hospital for a few days.
After surgery, many patients will experience either some or complete symptom relief, and you should be able to resume light activity after about four weeks.
A microdiskectomy, also called microdecompression, is a minimally invasive procedure that relieves pressure on the spinal nerves by removing part of one or more herniated disks.
Before surgery, you will lie face down and receive general anesthesia to help you sleep during the procedure. Your provider will make a 1- to 1.5-inch incision over the affected disk. The surgeon will then use small surgical tools to remove part of the bone covering the spine to access and remove the ruptured herniated tissue and disk fractures. The surgery usually takes about an hour. After the procedure, you’ll be observed as your anesthesia wears off. Most patients return home the same day or the next day.