Complications in Cervical and Thoracic Spine Surgery

Abstract

Minimally invasive surgery has continued to grow as an alternative approach to traditional open methods of treating cervical and thoracic spine pathologies, with similar efficacy, shorter hospitalizations and decreased tissue destruction. This manuscript presents a review of the literature and summarizes complications seen in cervical and thoracic spine surgery, focusing on different types of minimally invasive procedures. Overall, our review suggests that minimally invasive approaches have less severe complications than open approaches, and indicates the need for prospective studies to examine this finding further.

Keywords

• laminectomy
• discectomy
• foraminotomy
• neurosurgery
• endoscopy