Lumbar Laminectomy in Mullica Hill, NJ

Not necessarily, but it is worth a spine-specific evaluation to assess where you stand. Epidural injections provide temporary relief for many stenosis patients and can be repeated with sustained benefit. When injections are providing progressively shorter periods of relief, or when your walking tolerance has declined significantly despite injection treatment, that suggests the stenosis is severe enough that conservative management is no longer meeting the need. We can review your history and imaging and give you a clear assessment of your current status.

Imaging severity and symptom severity do not always correlate. Patients with severe-appearing stenosis on MRI can have moderate functional limitation; patients with moderate-appearing stenosis can be functionally disabled. We make surgical recommendations based on the functional impact of the stenosis — specifically, how much it is limiting your activity and whether that limitation is acceptable. MRI is important for surgical planning, but it does not drive the decision on its own.

Medical complexity is a planning consideration, not a disqualifier. For patients who are already in the Inspira Health Network, your Inspira cardiologist and primary care physician can participate in pre-operative medical optimization and clearance. The coordination of your cardiac and metabolic management with our surgical plan is an important part of making laminectomy safe for medically complex patients. We evaluate each patient individually and work with your medical team to determine whether surgery is appropriate and what preparation is needed.

It depends on whether there is instability at the levels being decompressed. For straightforward stenosis without spondylolisthesis or significant instability, laminectomy alone is often sufficient. If there is spondylolisthesis — a forward slip of one vertebra on the next — or if the segment is unstable, fusion is typically added to prevent progressive slippage after decompression. We assess this on imaging before surgery and discuss it with the patient before any procedure.