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• What Is Outpatient Surgery?

What Is Outpatient Surgery?

Outpatient surgery is any procedure that allows the patient to return home on the same day as the operation. Unlike traditional surgery, which requires an overnight hospital stay or longer, outpatient surgery is usually quicker, easier, and more cost effective. In fact, the majority of surgical procedures completed today are outpatient operations.

Commonly referred to as "ambulatory surgery" or "same-day surgery," outpatient operations have grown popular as a result of advances in modern medicine and anesthesia. This has led to the growth and popularity of minimally-invasive procedures, which can often treat the same conditions as traditional surgery, without the pain, recovery time, and expense involved in major operations. Outpatient procedures also require smaller incisions (if any), which in turn limits blood loss, reduces muscle trauma, and creates a smaller chance for blood clot or infection.

There are also other advantages of outpatient surgery, including:

• More personalized care
• Recovering at home, which is more familiar and less stressful
• Procedures and recovery are quicker so scheduling is easier
• Ambulatory centers are being designed to be more comfortable than the hospital
• Because procedures are quicker, outpatient procedures typically run on time
• Physical therapy can begin the next day, in most cases

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One great example of the rise of outpatient surgery is the example of endoscopic spine surgery. Where it was once inconceivable that major spine surgery could be completed without hospitalization, this is now the reality. For example, a patient suffering from a painful herniated disc used to require massively invasive open back surgery and possibly spinal fusion. Now, surgeons are able to use the latest laser-assisted techniques correct the disc disorder without the long-term side effects of major surgery.

While there are always going to be surgeries that require hospitalization, the advent of ambulatory centers and endoscopic techniques have made surgery easier and more affordable for many.

To learn more about the exciting outpatient endoscopic spine surgeries currently available, contact the award-winning staff at Laser Spine Institute (LSI). Pain relief may be closer and easier to achieve than you could ever imagine!

Please note: Laser Spine Institute currently does not perform endoscopic procedures on the thoracic spine.