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- Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
- High-grade Spondylolisthesis
- Infantile Idiopathic Scoliosis
- Juvenile Idiopathic Scoliosis
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- Isthmic Spondylolisthesis
- Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
- Spinal Muscular Atrophy
- The Spine Team
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How Dr. Bridwell Treats Isthmic Spondylolisthesis
Posterior Decompression: Dr. Bridwell will perform the surgery from the back of the spine; that is called a posterior approach. He will remove whatever is pressing on the nerves and causing pain and possible nerve damage. Most often, he performs a laminectomy. He removes all or part of the lamina (the roof of the vertebra) because in isthmic spondylolisthesis it can press on the spinal cord and/or spinal nerves. A laminectomy creates more room for the cord and/or nerves. It is a decompression procedure because it decompresses the cord and/or nerves—takes the pressure off them
Spinal Fusion with Instrumentation: Removing part of the spine can make it unstable, so Dr. Bridwell may perform a fusion with instrumentation. Dr. Bridwell will use appropriate spinal implants (rods, screws, etc.) to correct the spinal deformity and immobilize the spinal segments as they fuse and heal. Dr. Bridwell uses local bone graft and biologic proteins to enhance the fusion and make it much more likely that the spine will fuse correctly.
Please note: Dr. Bridwell does not take bone graft from the iliac crest of the hip; many other spine surgeons use iliac bone graft, which lengthens recovery time and increases the patient's pain. Instead, Dr. Bridwell uses local bone graft from the spine. He also has a track record of using safe and effective biologic proteins, another advanced technique that improves the fusion success rate and avoids a lot of pain for the patient.
