In addition to the traditional one-level fusion or decompression surgery that is done for lumbar degenerative disc disease or spinal stenosis, respectively, there are a number of surgical alternatives available. Several of the most common ones include:
Artificial Disc Replacement
Artificial disc technology can be used in specific cases of lumbar degenerative disc disease.
See Lumbar Artificial Disc Replacement for Chronic Back Pain
Motion Preservation Technologies
It should be known that while spinal fusion has been a classical treatment for ongoing pain and disability from the lumbar spine, alternatives to fusion do exist for posterior conditions (problems in the back of the lumbar spine) such as spinal stenosis. Inserting an interspinous process spacer, such as the X-STOP device, can actually preserve motion as opposed to stopping it via fusion.
See Posterior Motion Preservation Spine Surgery: Alternative to Spinal Fusion
Vertebral Augmentation
A surgery called vertebral augmentation may be done to treat pathological fractures from tumors or osteoporosis.
Multilevel Lumbar Fusion
Lumbar spine fusion surgery for symptomatic degenerative disc disease is typically done on one level of the spine (most commonly toward the bottom of the spine, at L5-S1 or L4-L5). In certain cases it may be done on two levels, and only very rarely would it be considered on 3 or more levels.
See The Multilevel Spinal Fusion Surgery
Multilevel spine fusion may be indicated in cases of scoliosis.
