Spine

The Yale Spine Center at Bridgeport Hospital offers comprehensive surgical treatment options including:

• Cervical, thoracic, lumbar surgery
• Decompression (removing compression of neural structures)
• Discectomy (removal of herniated discs)
• Fusion (stabilization of vertebrae)
• Scoliosis surgery to treat curvature of the spine
• Tumor surgery to remove and/or stabilize the spine around a tumor
• Vertebroplasty/kyphoplasty procedures to treat compression fractures or tumors

Spinal fusion surgery is an option for patients who no longer get relief from other treatments, and are experiencing chronic pain or impairment due to spinal instability, unstable fractures, and deformities of the spine or spondylolisthesis.

Spine surgeons at Bridgeport Hospital are specialists at performing minimally invasive spinal fusion through smaller incisions using advanced imaging guidance. This minimally invasive approach offers significant advantages to patients -- minimal blood loss, less pain and a faster return to normal activity.

The right diagnosis is crucial to determining an optimal treatment plan, and every patient is carefully evaluated. Depending on a patient’s spine condition, symptoms such as pain, weakness, and numbness may be successfully alleviated with nonsurgical treatments, such as rest, activity modifications, anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy and home-based exercise.

Nonsurgical therapeutic injections offered by our interventional physiatrists and pain specialists to treat inflammatory conditions in the spine include:

• Cortisone (steroid) injections to relieve inflammation
• Anti-inflammatory injections into the spine

Advanced imaging technology incorporated within our spine services includes:

• StealthStation™ neuro-navigation system – Allows our surgeons to operate more precisely and with smaller incisions by mapping a patient’s anatomy. It may be used for spinal fusion, lumbar fusion and corrective surgeries for conditions including scoliosis and herniated disc. With fewer and smaller incisions, healthy tissue is preserved and complications are reduced, thereby promoting quicker recovery than more invasive methods.
• O-arm™ imaging –  An advanced imaging system enables neurosurgeons performing spine surgery to view real-time 3-D images to support precise navigation around the spinal anatomy. This allows precise placement of screws during spinal fusions.