We arrived in lab after our first group, and unfortunately, that group of people did not know how to use the bone saw well and essentially destroyed the deep muscles of the back. The point of the lab today was to perform a laminectomy. A laminectomy is where a surgeon will saw through the lamina of the vertebrae on either side in order to release pressure that may be on the spinal cord (as seen in the photo displayed below from: www.yoursurgery.com). When we left lab we had cleared away to expose the multifidis beautifully and when we arrived in lab... well lets just say it was hacked off and no longer beautiful. Our instructor came over to our group and saw what had happened--he quickly assured us that the groups rotate cadavers in different directions to avoid this from happening to the same group all semester. After clearing away some more muscles and fascia, we discovered the articulate processes of the vertebral column in the lumbar region--we were ready for the saw! Now, with the bone saw, it is essentially a powertool that vibrates on bone to slowly cut through (as seen below from: www.medicalexpo.com). I didn't know what to expect but I turned it on and started pushing into the lamina until I felt that I went through bone. When cutting through bone, the dust of the bone flies up in the air and has a distinct smell, but we had hoses nearby that removed smells of fumes and bone dust. Moving from one vertebra to another I could feel when I was in the inter-vertebral space and when I was sawing away at the lamina. The tricky part was that the articulate processes are not present in the thoracic region; therefore, once we started sawing, we needed to try and stay parallel to the spinous processes while at a slight angle to perform a correct laminectomy. Each of our group members had a turn at sawing about three vertebrae at a time. However, we could not simply remove the spinous processes that easily. We were given a small hammer and a chisel to break the lamina and spinous processes free from the vertebral body. This was probably the most gruesome part as the chisel was difficult to get into the back but then to break the chisel free, we needed to rock it back and forth laterally while simultaneously releasing a loud cracking sound. Nevertheless, we successfully performed the laminectomy of the thoracic cavity.
**As many of you can tell, I graduated AMC's program in May of 2017. Current plan is to start a new blog related to my Fellowship after PA school. Stay tuned for the link and updates :)**
Lindsey the
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