[Endoscopic procedures in spinal surgery].

Background. The anterior approach to the spine enables good correction and stabilization of the anterior spinal column. The broad application of the anterior procedure via thoracotomy caused problems, however, due to the gravity of the surgical procedure. The introduction of transthoracic endoscopy has made it possible to avoid the disadvantages of open surgery. Material and methods. Between 2000 and 2003, 129 endoscopic operations were performed in our hospital on 125 patients, suffering from idiopathic scoliosis (77 patients), congenital scoliosis (8), scoliosis in systemic diseases (6), neuromuscular scoliosis (3), cardiogenic scoliosis (1), Scheuermann's kyphosis (8), pathological spine fracture (6), spondylodiscitis (4), chylothorax (2), pectus excavatum - MIRPE technique (10). The mean age at surgery was 15 years, range 4-62. The mean follow-up was 17 months, range 5-36. Results. In the whole group, the mean duration of endoscopy was 112 minutes, and mean intraoperative blood lose was 126 ml. Stable fusion was obtained in all patients. The duration of endoscopic procedures was shorter than the open technique, and intraoperative blood loss was lower. A decreased need for analgesics was also noted after surgery. Conclusions. The advantages of the endoscopic spinal procedure are its minimally invasive nature, good visualization of the operative area, decreased blood loss, and decreased need for analgesics.