My Spine - Lumbar
When undergoing this operation, you will be lying on your back. Your spe-
cialist will make a cut on your belly. This cut can vary from five to ten cen-
timetres (smaller incisions are not possible due to the size of the implant). It
can be an up-and-down (vertical) cut or a cut across your belly (horizontal).
The position of the cut depends mainly on the level of the spine where your
disc is replaced.
Your specialist will usually attempt to work down to the vertebrae without
entering the abdominal sac by working around it and pulling the abdominal
sac and its entire content to one side. On other occasions the approach can be
through the abdominal sac. There are important structures such as the bowel,
blood vessels and the ureters (tubes from the kidney carrying the urine to the
bladder) and nerves that your specialist must carefully avoid during this oper-
ation.
When the vertebrae are encountered, the disc is removed totally. At this point,
an artificial disc prosthesis is placed in the space. This has do be done care-
fully under guidance of an X-ray machine to ensure that the prosthetic disc is
perfectly positioned. The biggest reason for failed operations is the misplace-
ment of the prosthetic disc. Therefore, the placement is crucial. Following the
placement of the prosthesis, the wound is stitched up.
Ward care
You would be expected to get out of bed quite soon and usually on the first
day following surgery or even on the same day. You may normally walk
around as much as you want. It is important that you eat and drink nothing
until your specialist specifically allows you to.
The reason for this is because of the possibility of your gut being temporari-
ly paralysed from the surgery. This is mostly because of the traction that is
placed on it during surgery to keep it out of the way when the specialist oper-
ates around the abdominal sac.
141