Minimally invasive spine surgeries (MISS)

Minimally invasive spine surgeries (MISS) since its inception around 15 years ago has undergone rigorous changes with ever evolving technologies. Minimally invasive spine surgeries with “percutaneous” and “tubular” approaches is based on novel concept of minimizing collateral soft tissue damage, while achieving surgical goal in various spinal pathologies. MISS has been applied to simple spinal procedures of discectomy, decompression and fusion to even complex surgeries like deformity correction. MISS vis a vis “conventional open techniques” has benefits in terms of postoperative pain, concurrent tissue damage, disruption of spinal stabilizing structures, estimated blood loss, need of blood transfusion, length of hospital stay, surgical site infections, time to ambulation and functional recovery. However MISS is associated with steeper learning curve, poorer surgical orientation, higher peroperative ionizing radiation to patient and surgical team, higher incidence of incidental durotomies, dependency on technology, and higher upfront cost of treatment.