Percutaneous pedicle screw fixation is the process of spinal surgery in which we can not use a traditional large incision. Instead, screws and rods are inserted through a few very small incisions. Using these small incisions, the spine surgeon implants screws into the pedicles, which are anatomic tubes of bone that connect the front and back of vertebrae. Percutaneous pedicle screw fixation is one process of Minimally invasive spine surgery.
How is this Procedure Performed?
Percutaneous pedicle fixation is performed under general anesthesia, which means the patient is careless. The First step of the spinal surgeon is the making a tiny incision on the patient’s back on either side of the spinal column for the inserting pedicle screw with the help of an X-ray technique called fluoroscopy or an intraoperative navigation system that relies on either X-ray or computed tomography (CT) images.
This technique can be more advantage like they provide robotic assistance to improve accuracy. The Last step is rods are inserted into special slots at the screw heads and locked into place and the rod is removed from the incisions. the spine surgeon is closed small incisions with one or two sutures.
Advantages of Percutaneous pedicle screw fixation
Percutaneous pedicle screw fixation gives several advantages over open surgery.
- less skin problem
- reduction of soft tissue dissection
- Less loss of blood
- Less soft tissue and muscle damage
- Less scarring
- Faster recovery after surgery
we discuss the techniques for safe implantation of pedicle screws using a single or double intraoperative fluoroscopy. We report tips and tricks for technical challenges including fixation in osteoporotic patients, percutaneous insertion of long rods, compression/distraction using multiaxial screws turning into monoaxial, and use of minimally invasive retractor for interbody fusion.
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