Salford Royal, part of the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, has become the first hospital in the UK to carry out an endoscope assisted lumbar fusion.
Lumbar fusion is a complex surgical procedure that reports an average hospital stay ranging from 2 to 7 days.
The surgery which took around 3 hours was performed using a minimally invasive technique that involved a tiny incision and allows for minimal damage to the bony structures of the spine and the muscles around it.
In addition, using this technique means that the patient’s post operative pain is much less as compared to more traditional open surgery and as a result, in this case the patient was able to be safely sent home to recover just 6 hours after surgery.
Consultant Neurosurgeon Ankur Saxena, who was part of the surgical team, said: “In addition to the benefits to patients, performing surgeries in this way has a massive impact in helping improve patient flow and has financial benefits to the organisation. We look forward to our follow up with the patient to check on their progress post operation in four to six weeks’ time”.
“Salford Royal are at the forefront of endoscopic spine surgery. We perform more endoscopic spine surgeries here than any other NHS hospital in the whole of UK.”