Spine Surgery in Ethiopia – Find Cost, Best Hospitals, and Success

Ethiopia is facing a significant prevalence of spinal disorders, including spinal cord injuries and chronic lower back pain. Spinal cord diseases and disorders occur if an individual has nerve compression or outer injury, which has conditions like bone fracture, herniated disk, spinal degeneration, or abnormalities. Spine surgery is an effective treatment for degenerative disc disease, back pains, herniated disc treatment, spine disease, and scoliosis treatment due to aging or an injury. When a person has a problem with the spine, the symptoms show up, including back pain, tingling, weakness, stiffness, spasms, posture change, and loss of bladder.

በአዲስ አበባ ኢትዮጵያ የሚገኘው ምርጥ የአጥንት ህክምና ክሊኒክ በእያንዳንዱ ታካሚ ደህንነት ላይ ያተኮሩ የአጥንት ህክምና ልዩ እና ልዩ ልዩ ክፍሎችን ያቀርባል። በበርካታ ሆስፒታሎች ውስጥ የምርመራ፣ ህክምና እና የመልሶ ማቋቋም አገልግሎቶችን ያግኙ። በኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ህመምን በመቀነስ እና እንቅስቃሴን እና የህይወት ጥራትን በማምጣት ለእያንዳንዱ ታካሚ ልዩ መስፈርቶች ለግል የተበጁ እንክብካቤ እና ብጁ የህክምና እቅዶችን የሚያቀርቡ የአከርካሪ ስፔሻሊስቶች እና የአጥንት ስፔሻሊስቶች አሉ። የአከርካሪ ህክምና እና የአከርካሪ ቀዶ ጥገና በአዲስ አበባ ኒውሮሎጂ ሆስፒታሎች፣ በኢትዮጵያ ነርቭ ሆስፒታል እና በኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶፔዲክ ሆስፒታል ይገኛሉ። አጠቃላይ የአጥንት ህክምና አገልግሎቶችን፣ ለአከርካሪ አጥንት የላቀ የአሰቃቂ እንክብካቤ፣ የስፖርት ጉዳት ህክምና እና የዲስክ መራባትን ያግኙ።

Spine Surgery Price List in Ethiopia 2024

What Contributes to Spine Surgery Costs?

Type of Spine Surgery

The requirement of different kinds of surgery can alter the cost. For example, Spinal Fusion costs 4,218,750 ETB, and Vertebroplasty surgery costs 2,981,250 ETB.

Surgeon’s Fees

The spine surgeon’s fees can be different depending on the surgeon’s expertise, experience, and skills to manage complications.

Hospital Cost

The availability of state-of-the-art hospital infrastructure can add up to overall cost.

Post-surgery complications

In case of complications after surgery, professional attention and medication will be required, increasing the cost.

Type of Implant

Different types of implants for spine surgery can change the cost

Other changes include room services, patient conditions, and insurance.

Types of Spine Surgery

Spine surgery has a wide range of various procedures that help to treat different spinal conditions. There are different types of spine surgery, including:

Artificial Disk Replacement

It is a surgical procedure involving replacing a degenerated spinal disk or damaged with an artificial version. The spine surgeon will remove the damaged disk and add an artificial disk to fill the space and restore similar height and movement between the vertebrae.

Corpectomy

Corpectomy is a vertebral removal surgery from the body due to fracture, spinal tumours, and severe disk degeneration. This procedure is performed to relieve pressure over the spinal cord or nerves.

Diskectomy

Diskectomy involves herniated disk portion removal which is pressing over a nerve root or the spinal cord. The spine surgeon performs a diskectomy as a minimally invasive surgery or open surgery called a microdiscectomy. This surgery will remove a damaged portion or herniated disk to relieve pressure on spinal nerves.

Foraminotomy

This spinal surgery involves the removal of tissue or bone that is compressing the nerve. The surgeon can do it with a single technique or a combination of procedures like diskectomy and laminectomy. Foraminotomy helps to relieve the pressure on spinal nerves.

Laminectomy

Laminectomy involves lamina removal, a part of the vertebra that covers the spinal canal. This surgery, also called decompression surgery, relieves pressure on spinal nerves and is suitable for patients with spinal stenosis.

Nucleoplasty

Nucleoplasty is a minimally invasive surgery to treat herniated disks affecting nerve compression. This surgery requires the use of a needle-like device to apply radiofrequency energy or cold therapy to the disk. It helps to reduce size and relieve pressure on the spinal nerves.

Spinal fusion

Spinal fusion surgery permanently connect multiple vertebrae in the spine, removing motion between them. The spine surgeon will add bone or bone-like material within the gap between two spinal vertebrae. Often surgeons use screws, metal plates, and rods to hold the vertebrae together and heal into one solid unit.

Conditions Requiring the Need for Spinal Surgery

Degenerative Disc Disease

Degenerative disc disease occurs when a person has wear in spinal discs that cause pain. It has symptoms of numbness, tingling, and weakness in leg muscles. This condition occurs due to aging, obesity, and sudden injury. The degenerative disc disease with mild conditions will go with heat or cold therapy. If pain gets worse, spinal surgery is recommended. There are different types of surgeries such as minor surgery, open discectomy, endoscopic surgery, disc replacement, and artificial disk replacement.

Laminectomy

Laminectomy is a type of spinal surgery to remove a part or full lamina which is the bony arch responsible for spinal cord protection. The surgery is performed to relieve pressure on nerves or spinal cord. The laminectomy surgery is recommended for conditions like fractures, spinal tumors, degenerative stenosis, herniated disks, and bone spurs.

Lower Back Pain Treatment

Lower back pain occurs due to long hours of sitting or weight lifting. Lower back pain causes include injuries, degenerative conditions, postural issues, and metabolic conditions. Spinal surgery is not a first but it is an option for severe conditions like herniated discs, spinal stenosis, spondylosis, fractures, tumors, and infection.

Cervical Spondylosis

Cervical spondylosis is a condition of degenerative disease that affects the neck part of the spine. These are soft disks between vertebrae bones in the spine for cushioning. In the condition of cervical spondylosis, the disk becomes compressed. Cervical spondylosis treatment is spinal surgery in case other treatments fail.

Who Are Suitable Candidates For Spine Surgery?

People experiencing the following conditions can be eligible candidates for spine surgery:

• Degenerative Disc Disease
• Degenerative Disk Disease
• Lumbar Disc Disease
• Lupus And Back Pain
• Lumbar Arthritis
• Spine Disease
• Back Pain Relief
• Scoliosis
• Spinal Tumor
• Spinal Infections
• Bowel And Bladder Loss

Who Are Not Suitable Candidates for Spine Surgery?

People with the following conditions or lifestyle are not eligible for spine surgery:

• Older patients who cannot manage surgery
• A person having ongoing health conditions
• Obesity, smoking
• have bleeding disorders
• Have osteoporosis
• Infection risk

Does Insurance Cover Spine Surgery in Ethiopia?

Spine surgery can be minor to major surgery. The government hospital in Ethiopia provides free diagnosis and treatment facilities for minor conditions that are treatable with medication. Private hospitals in Ethiopia have different cost options for minimally invasive spine surgery or lower back pain treatment. Ethiopia offers Community-Based Health Insurance, social health insurance, and private health insurance facilities. Eligible candidates will get partial or full coverage for spine surgery. Low-income people from rural regions are more eligible than urban people in Ethiopia; still, please check your eligibility depending on spine surgery requirements.

Spine Surgery Success Rate in Ethiopia

Spine surgery is an effective treatment with successful recovery despite limited resources in Ethiopia. Research shows that the spine surgery success rate in Ethiopia is 70% – 85% depending on the patient’s condition and ability to handle the surgery. However, key factors can increase the spine surgery success rate which includes quality of care, appropriate medication, rest, nutrition, and specialist surgeon treatment.

Spinal Surgery Waiting Time

The spinal surgery waiting time can be between 3 – 6 months for consultation and 6- 12 months for surgery. If you have the treatment in a government hospital, the waiting period might be longer. If you choose a private hospital with insurance, the waiting time can be less. The patient must wait until their doctor tests evaluates, and finds suitable procedures to get effective results.

How Advanced Technologies Help Spine Surgery Success?

The innovations and new technologies make spine surgery extremely safe and helpful in bringing back mobility in people with spine-related problems. These days there are many spine surgeons available across the world with experience and skills to manage complicated conditions. Around 95% of spine surgeries are successful at low risk. Let us find out emerging technologies helping spine surgery:

Robotic-Assisted Surgery

Robotic-assisted surgery improves the precision and safety of spine procedures. Spine surgeons with the help of robots easily perform complex tasks with high accuracy and lower risk complications. For example, the portal endoscopic technique shows better flexibility and visibility during surgery. Robotic surgery also lowers the recovery time and chances of complications. The robot use extends to spinal fusion procedure and has shown improvement with single position lateral surgery technique. This technique prevents heavy blood loss and radiation exposure during surgery.

Artificial Disc Replacement (ADR)

Artificial disc replacement is another advancement in spine surgery procedures. This technique is gradually changing traditional spinal fusion procedures by helping greater mobility after surgery. The latest advancements in artificial disc replacement lumbar and artificial disc replacement cervical help to get back natural movement of the spine and allow patients to maintain an active lifestyle without extreme pain.

Endoscopic Spine Surgery

Endoscopic Spine Surgery is another advancement in gaining popularity because of its minimally invasive nature. This technique involves the use of an endoscope, which is a small camera to guide the surgery with tiny incisions. Endoscopy surgery can be combined with robotics to improve visualization and precision during spinal fusion surgery. This method will reduce tissue damage, lower recovery times, and give effective results.

Patient-Specific Rods

Patient-specific rods are an innovative method integrated into clinical practice. Robot-guided spinal surgery, machine learning, and patient-specific rods are tools that help improve the planning of patient satisfaction for spine surgery. Machine learning can be used to predict readmissions, and complications, and generate postoperative radiographs helpful for discussion. Patient-specific rods provide improved outcomes with a higher correction rate and low rate of rod breakage while reducing operative time.

Frequently Asked Questions