Max Hospital, Delhi · Ex-AIIMS · 25 Years of Excellence Book an appointment
Dr. Prof. Bhavuk Garg Professor of Orthopaedics & Spine
X-ray of the upper spine and shoulders

Procedure education

Spine treatments & procedures

How spine procedures work — who they are for, how they are performed, and what recovery involves. Balanced, neutral explanations rather than promises.

  1. Endoscopic Discectomy: How It Works, Recovery & Risks Endoscopic discectomy is a keyhole spine operation that removes a herniated disc fragment pressing on a nerve, using a small tube and camera passed through a portal a few millimetres wide.
  2. Microdiscectomy: How It Works, Recovery & Risks Microdiscectomy is a microscope-assisted operation that removes the part of a herniated lumbar disc pressing on a nerve root, relieving sciatica while preserving most of the disc.
  3. Endoscopic Spinal Fusion: How It Works & Recovery Endoscopic spinal fusion is an ultra-minimally invasive way to join two vertebrae using a camera-guided portal, an interbody spacer and screws, to relieve pain from an unstable or degenerated lumbar segment.
  4. Minimally Invasive Spinal Fusion: A Patient Guide Minimally invasive spinal fusion joins two or more vertebrae into one stable segment through small incisions, using cages, screws and rods to treat instability, deformity or nerve compression.
  5. MIS-TLIF: Minimally Invasive Lumbar Fusion Explained MIS-TLIF is a minimally invasive operation that fuses two vertebrae in the lower back through small incisions, decompressing the nerves and placing a spacer and screws to stabilise the segment.
  6. Cervical Fusion: How It Works, Recovery & Risks Cervical fusion is an operation that permanently joins two or more vertebrae in the neck so they heal into a single bone, used to stabilise the spine or relieve pressure on nerves and the spinal cord.
  7. ACDF: Anterior Cervical Discectomy & Fusion Explained Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is a neck operation that removes a damaged disc through the front of the neck and joins the two adjacent vertebrae so the segment heals as one bone.
  8. Cervical Laminectomy & Fusion Explained Cervical laminectomy and fusion is an operation that removes bone from the back of the neck to relieve pressure on the spinal cord, then fuses the segment with screws and rods to keep it stable.
  9. Lumbar Laminectomy & Fusion: A Patient Guide Lumbar laminectomy and fusion removes bone from the lower back to relieve pressure on compressed nerves, then fuses the segment with screws and rods to keep it stable.
  10. OLIF: Oblique Lumbar Interbody Fusion Explained OLIF is a minimally invasive fusion that approaches the lumbar spine from a side-front (oblique) angle, allowing a large spacer to be placed in the disc with little disruption of back muscles.
  11. Minimally Invasive Spine Fracture Fixation Minimally invasive spine fracture fixation stabilises a broken vertebra by placing screws and rods through small skin incisions, reducing muscle damage compared with open surgery.
  12. Sacroiliac Joint Fusion: How It Works & Recovery Sacroiliac joint fusion is a procedure that stabilises a painful sacroiliac joint, usually by placing small implants across the joint through a minimally invasive approach to reduce abnormal movement.
  13. Kyphoplasty, Vertebroplasty & Sacroplasty Explained Vertebral augmentation uses bone cement to stabilise painful fractured vertebrae or the sacrum; kyphoplasty, vertebroplasty and sacroplasty are minimally invasive, image-guided versions of this treatment.
  14. Spinal Injections: Nerve Root Block, Epidural & Facet Spinal injections deliver local anaesthetic and often steroid to a precise target near the spine, such as a nerve root, the epidural space or a facet joint, to diagnose the source of pain and to provide relief as part of non-surgical care.
  15. Micro-Endoscopic Decompression Explained Micro-endoscopic decompression (MED) uses a small tubular retractor and an endoscope to relieve pressure on the nerves of the lower spine from stenosis or a disc, through a small incision.
  16. Surgery for Spinal Tuberculosis (Pott's Spine) Surgery for spinal tuberculosis is used in selected cases alongside anti-tubercular drug therapy, the mainstay of treatment, to address neurological deficit, deformity, instability, abscess or failed medical treatment.
  17. Slipped Disc Surgery: Options, Recovery & Risks Slipped disc surgery removes the portion of a herniated disc that presses on a spinal nerve. Several approaches exist, from microdiscectomy to endoscopic techniques, each with trade-offs.
  18. Surgery for Low Back Pain: When It Is Considered Surgery for low back pain is considered only in a minority of cases, after conservative care has been tried and when a specific structural cause is identified that surgery can address.