The MICOSS team, including Dr. Ram Chaddha, Dr. Vinod Agrawal, Dr. Shahrookh Vatchha, Dr. Haresh Ratanpal along with Dr. Hitesh Mehta, the laparascopic general surgeon, has successfully executed more than a dozen cases of varied spine pathologies in the past year.

Fifteen patients underwent thoracoscopy, while three underwent laparoscopy. Depending on the pathology and procedure done:

Drainage of Tuberculous abscess	10
Curettage with bone graft without rib head excision	3
Excision of rib head with drainage	2
Curettage without grafting of a granulomatous L5 S1 lesion	1
Biopsy for ? Lymphoma ? metastasis of L5 S1 lesion	1
Multiple level diskectomy for thoracic scoliosis	1

The mean operative time is 120 minutes.

There have been no major complications. A transient deterioration in neurology of an incomplete paraplegic in a mid thoracic tubercolosis of the spine, was tackled by a thoracotomy with repositioning of the autograft. The patient progressed satisfactorily to complete recovery.

The results of the minimally invasive surgery are very encouraging.