Is there any surgery to remove disc from the spine?

Q: A close friend of mine is suffering from lumbar spondylitis with unbearable pain in the leg and ankle and has been advised complete bed rest for 15 days. In between, he got some information that DoctorNDTV.com had published regarding some recent technology being adopted by doctors while carrying out spinal surgeries which reduces the healing time and gives early discharge from the hospital. I have also learnt about a method of microscopic laminectomy used recently by doctors in Bombay while conducting this type of surgery. I will be highly obliged if you can give me some information on the above.

A:You are right in the information that removal of disc from the spine can be done through a very small incision called microdiscectomy and after this the patient can get up and walk within few days. But this technique can not be used to remove certain types of disc prolapse for which a bigger operation is necessary and also it depends on that some surgeons are using this technique while others still continue to use the bigger incision because all type of discs can be removed with this operation and after two months there is no difference in the final outcome of any of the two methods.