After giving birth to her second daughter, 38-year-old Miss Wu slept on her right side to feed her daughter breast milk every day, which caused her neck stiff; thus she often sought treatment of acupuncture and massage. One day at the end of 2018, she felt numb, ache and hot at her right upper arm immediately after accepting a massage and she was so painful that she couldn't hold up her right hand even put up her clothes and unbuckle her underwear soon after she went home. So she had to ask for emergency treatment. The medical examination indicated her nerve compression due to the 4th and 5th cervical disc herniation. And then she accepted a minimally invasive endoscopic cervical spine surgery to reduce the compression in Taichung Veterans General Hospital (TCVGH), which helped to relieve her symptoms significantly at that day of the surgery; thus she was discharged and could hold her daughter again on the next day.
    Dr. Zou Xi-Kai, the Director of Functional Neurosurgery Department of TCVGH mentioned: the endoscopic cervical spine surgery only took up about 2 hours with general anaesthesia and an incision at around 0.7 cm. The patient could leave the sick bed at the day of surgery and go back home on the next day. It is suggested the patient wear a neck protector for a 1 month and avoid intense activities and work. Merits of the surgery include minimal invasion, rapid recovery and possibility of vertebral preservation. It is not suitable for the endoscopic cervical surgery if the space of cervical disc is too narrow, cervical spondylolisthesis is caused by insufficient stability of vertebral body, spur hyperplasia is too serious, posterior longitudinal ligament is calcified or the spinal cord is suffering from a severe compression and so on. Director Zou has conducted endoscopic surgeries for lumbar vertebra since August 2004, and for cervical vertebra since October 2007. Up to now, nearly 900 surgical cases have been performed, making him one of the very few physicians specialized in endoscopic surgery for cervical and lumbar vertebra in the central region of Taiwan.