Dr. Kern Singh first to offer endoscopic spine surgery

August 21, 2020

Dr. Kern Singh is the first to offer endoscopic spine surgery to patients at Midwest Orthopedics at Rush. Dr. Singh recently performed an outpatient endoscopic spinal discectomy on a patient with a large recurrent disc herniation through an incision half the size of a dime (7mm).

Using a high definition camera, Dr. Singh is able to treat disc herniations, bulges, bone spurs and stenosis through suture-less spine surgery incisions. Endoscopic spine surgery is similar to arthroscopic surgery of the knee where a small camera is placed in order for the surgeon to see the diseased tissue while avoiding muscle cutting, scarring, and bleeding. The surgery is almost painless and can be performed in awake patients under only local anesthesia.

Advantages of Endoscopic spine surgery include following:

  • Microscopic incision the size of a pen tip (a single band-aide)
  • No blood loss
  • Immediate recovery
  • Almost no pain meds
  • Preservation of spinal mobility (meaning NO fusion)
  • Mostly local anesthesia
  • Same day outpatient surgery
  • High success rates
  • Improved quality of life
  • No removal of muscle or bone
  • No scar tissue

Endoscopic spine surgery should not be confused with traditional procedures—such as minimally invasive, micro invasive and/or laser spine surgeries. In the experienced hands of a spine surgeon who regularly performs endoscopic spine surgery using tubular retractors and the endoscope. Think of endoscopic spine surgery as arthroscopy of the spine.


Dr. Kern Singh has an international reputation in the area of minimally invasive spinal surgery. He frequently teaches minimally invasive techniques to neurosurgeons and spinal surgeons from around the world and most recently was an invited guest lecturer to Saudi Arabia. He is also extensively involved in designing new minimally invasive spinal instrumentation for cutting-edge spinal surgery.  He is one of the few surgeons in the United States performing Endoscopic Spine Surgery.