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VIDEO: Open, bilateral interlaminar decompression in lumbar spinal stenosis
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In this video from the Open Operating Theatre, Klaus John Schnake, MD, discusses how to perform an open, bilateral interlaminar decompression in an 83-year-old man with lumbar spinal stenosis.
Surgery begins with the patient placed in a prone position. A midline incision is made and subcutaneous tissues are dissected. The supra/interspinous ligaments at level L4-5 are then resected. Surgeons perform a flavectomy beginning from the midline to both sides. A laminectomy is done cranially and caudally, and is followed by lateral decompression.
Surgeons perform a partial medial facetectomy, and then expose the L4-L5 nerve roots and decompress these. A hook is used to control the sufficient neural decompression at level L4-5 and L3-4. Cystic formations are then resected at level L3-4. Thrombin is t injected into the spinal canal. The drain is mounted and the wound is closed.
This video is a teaching tool to help surgeons prepare for surgery or they can use it as a refresher on the surgical technique and indications for this surgery.