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Endoscopic Resection of Thoracic Disk Herniations

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Surgery of the Spine and Spinal Cord

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Abstract

Symptomatic thoracic disc herniations (TDHs) may severely incapacitate the patient while posing a significant challenge to the attending neurosurgeon. With the development of safer, less destructive surgical techniques, every symptomatic TDH may now be considered for surgical resection, provided it has enough impact on quality of life and conservative treatment has failed. While many open, endoscopic, or even percutaneous techniques have been developed using a posterior, posterolateral, or anterior route, today, thoracoscopic microdiscectomy (TMD) may be regarded as the golden standard because of its versatility, excellent results, and very low complication rates even in the most challenging cases. There are, however, a steep learning curve and a critical caseload to acquire and retain specific surgical skills. Moreover, close cooperation with a dedicated neuroradiologist, neuroanesthesiologist, and neurophysiologist is a prerequisite.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Maastricht UMC+, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Erwin M. J. Cornips MD

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  1. Erwin M. J. Cornips MD
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Correspondence to Erwin M. J. Cornips MD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Neurosurgery, AZ Nikolaas, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium

    Erik van de Kelft

1 Electronic Supplementary Material

Video 19.1

The video illustrates a right-sided thoracoscopic microdiscectomy at T6–T7 removing a noncalcified herniation in a thin, female patient (MP4 617783 kb)

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Cornips, E.M.J. (2016). Endoscopic Resection of Thoracic Disk Herniations. In: van de Kelft, E. (eds) Surgery of the Spine and Spinal Cord. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27613-7_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27613-7_19

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-27611-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-27613-7

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