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A 63-year-old member asked:
Is laser spine surgery effective and safe?
2 doctor answers • 5 doctors weighed in
Dr. Luis Villaplanaanswered
Internal Medicine 37 years experience
Yes and yes: When indicated and on the hands of an experienced surgeon.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
5.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Dr. Patrick Rothanswered
Neurosurgery 36 years experience
Safe not effective: Laser spine surgery simply means removing disc with a laser rather than manually. It is typically performed percutaneously. Although there are reported benefits, in order to state that it is effective, those benefits have to beat the placebo effect which is considerable. Most of the laser surgeries done are for disc bulge which doesn't need surgery in the first place.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
5.9k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Similar questions
A 45-year-old member asked:
How safe is laser spine surgery?
1 doctor answer • 4 doctors weighed in
Dr. Will Mooreheadanswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 54 years experience
Why: Laser spine surgery carries with it the same dangers as conventional spine surgery. The real question is are there advantages of laser spine surgery over conventional spine surgery. According to a paper by the mayo clinic laser spine surgery does not provide any advantage over conventional spine surgery. There are no independent studies that have confirmed the benefits of the laser spine surgery over conventional spine surgery. Additionally there in the next the tremendous expense of laser spine surgery that cost approximately 2 to 3 times that of conventional.
Created for people with ongoing healthcare needs but benefits everyone.
5.7k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Last updated Oct 10, 2018
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