Advances in spine surgery allow a better quality of life for the patient

The doctor. Eduardo Hevia Sierra is a renowned specialist in orthopedic spinal surgery, which has incorporated significant advances in their specialty.

How you have advanced spine surgery in recent years?

From my beginnings in this condition I have lived and known the enormous advances that have occurred. To begin with, it has greatly improved the diagnostic capability: today MRI is very affordable, can be made open for those suffering from claustrophobia machines, has a huge resolution and quality, can be moving, such as heart, and vertical MRIs to check the influence of the load and body weight on the spine.

It has also improved anesthesia, allowing earlier, abdominal or thoracic approaches and prolonged surgeries many hours, which often require blood transfusions, and today can be made safer and minor complications.

Now there Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring techniques that warn us during surgery if neurological suffering spinal cord, which allows us to operate confidently and warns us of danger to modify on the fly surgery if neurological risks.

Other diagnostic techniques are also much more accurate, as the puncture injuries that are suspected to be tumor, which are performed under CT control what they earn in accuracy and reliability.

These changes have been introduced gradually in Spain column units, so that the practice of spinal surgery has improved in all aspects, making it safer, better results and fewer complications.

What has been the evolution of techniques in spine surgery?

Conventional open surgery continues to be indispensable, but has gained much strength or minimally invasive surgery small incisions. Thanks to technical advances in improving the implants and the possibilities of radiological images, you can do the same surgery small incisions.

It is true that for surgeons surgery involves minimally invasive extend interventions and be exposed to more X-rays, but virtually no blood loss, postoperative stays are shorter, the needs of minor analgesics, since such small wounds not both hurt and patients recover faster.

You can also put screws through needles, do mergers under radiological control operations herniated disc with surgical microscopes that increase the images and some precision, with the improvement of the results that this entails and avoid problems and complications making, ultimately, greater assurance surgery.

From a technical point of view, it has also greatly improved surgery in children and adolescents. Scientific advances in improving surgery deformities or scoliosis is the high quality of the results obtained in children, with the improvement of the reductions achieved, the decline in the rate of complications, fewer days of hospitalization and less need for sleep in bed.

How do the improvements in the child's life?

What I personally more satisfaction two things: surgery for deformities and scoliosis and advances in preservation movement.Change the morphology of a child or adolescent is ultimately change the life of a child with many years ahead, ensuring a better quality of life with fewer health problems and treatment needs. This is one of the most important goals of our profession and specialty of Traumatology .

And in terms of mobility solutions?

The preservation movement has advanced through the placement of new prostheses that maintain the mobility of the spine, preventing the fixings and the cancellation of the movement, which is still often the only alternative left for the elimination of pain.

Have you been able to adapt to the many advances in the specialty?

In our team do all kinds of surgery of the spine, both anteriorly and posterior, from cervical to sacrum, open or percutaneous fixation or arthrodesis as motion preservation. We consider ourselves very up to date on any technical knowledge or area of ​​specialty, but I would like to clarify that we do not like things too innovative start until they have demonstrated a minimum of reliability and efficiency. We like the vanguard, especially knowledge or science, but we expect them to operate with our patients until the techniques or materials are tested and guaranteed.

The center of our profession is patient satisfaction. We ensure that the patient feels well attended, close, solve their problems, which is key in this specialty, improve pain and increase its functionality and movement, exercise and work. This is the best way to evaluate the results of the daily effort to organize consultations, preoperative, surgery and follow-up. We conduct surveys frequently results and it keeps us constantly monitoring the consequences of our efforts to improve.

How do you rate the level of surgery specialty in Spain?

The average level of surgery of the spine in Spain is generally very good and almost all cities treatments high quality and safety are made, so that meetings or national conventions are very useful to keep you informed of progress.