Dr. Raymond J. Poelstra M.D.

What Is a Laminectomy?The lamina is the back part of your vertebra covering the spinal canal. Your doctor could decide to eliminate your lamina or the bone spurs around it when either causes compression of your spinal cord or the roots of your nerves. Pressure on the roots of your nerves can cause:...

Spinal stenosis is a condition where two spinal vertebrae separated by an intervertebral disc come closer as the disc wears off due to osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis or trauma. When this happens, the spinal nerve that runs between them becomes compressed causing pain to the individual. The...

Your doctor will first attempt to give you other alternative treatments before recommending surgery. If your back pain still persists after treatment, your doctor may suggest for surgery as one of the solutions. Laminectomy is the most probable surgical procedure that you will have to undergo.Facts...

Lobotomy is now considered an inhumane and obsolete procedure that no one would ever want to be subjected to. However, at the time of its advent, it was not the primitive and brutal surgery we view it as today. In a time where medications to treat psychological and emotional conditions were...

Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a type of brain disorder, wherein excess cerebrospinal fluid builds up in the ventricles of the brain. It causes problems in reasoning, thinking, difficulty in walking, and loss of bladder control.Brains ventricles are hollow fluid-filled chambers. Even...

What is laminectomy?If you have back pain that is severe enough to interfere with your day-to-day activities and other medications fail to work, you might eventually need surgery to get it fixed. Laminectomy is the surgical procedure that will be performed on your back in this case. It involves the...