World-famous neurosurgeon Dr. Anders Cohen is at the forefront of modern neurosurgery. He specializes in some of the most advanced surgical and non-surgical treatments for diseases and conditions of the nervous system and spine, treatments that are far superior to the invasive, expensive and risky treatments of the past that more often than not take patients quite a while to recuperate from. Dr. Cohen is Chief of Neurosurgery at Brooklyn Hospital Center, where he treats a wide variety of clients both young and old, as well as athletes with nervous system and/or spinal injuries seeking rehabilitation. In addition, Dr. Cohen also seeks to help other neurosurgeons learn to utilize these techniques, and as such also serves as Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center.
One example of a minimally invasive surgical procedure that Dr. Anders Cohen specializes in is minimally invasive lumbar discectomy. Lumbar discectomies in general are surgical procedures resorted to in order to deal with herniated discs or bone spurs in a patient’s lower back. These irregularities may place nerve roots and/or the spinal cord itself under a certain amount of pressure, which may manifest as leg pain, numbness or weakness of the legs and feet, and/or curtailed bladder and/or bowel functions.
In the past, lumbar discectomy and all other traditional open-spine surgical techniques were extremely invasive. They required the surgeons to strip or cut muscles away from the spine in order to gain access to the spine itself – a risky, expensive technique that could take patients quite a while to recover from. Anders Cohen and other modern specialists simply make a small incision, dilate or separate the spinal muscles, and insert an instrument called a tubular retractor to create an opening for surgery. After the source of compression is removed, the small incision is closed and typically leaves only a small scar. Less collateral damage and a faster healing time can be achieved through this pioneering method of spinal surgery.