H. Rifai, M.D., neurosurgeon, shows the area of the spine where the new minimally invasive AxiaLIF procedure is beneficial.
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Getting to the Bottom of Back Pain
Your aching back, especially the lower back or lumbar spine, is the most common source of pain in the adult human body. It’s the No. 2 cause of lost workdays (behind the common cold). Degenerative disc disease, sports or work injury, poor posture and lack of physical exercise are some common causes of back pain. If the condition is relatively mild, pain relief can often be found in heating pads or over-the-counter medications. Moderate to severe pain may call for outpatient treatments consisting of physical therapy, visits to a pain center, or, may be alleviated by minimally invasive surgical interventions. Today at St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart, it’s easier than ever to find the relief you need close to home.
Minimally-invasive Surgical Interventions
In some cases, surgery is the only answer to relieving back pain. Thankfully, surgeons at St. Mary Medical Center are increasingly able to offer surgical interventions that are less invasive, and offer quicker recoveries.
Jim Szentesy of Valparaiso knows about those differences. After years of back pain, he almost learned to live with it. “I was in denial about what needed to be done,” he says. “But I knew another back surgery was in my future. I just dreaded that.”
Szentesy always remembers having back pain. “I used to have regular muscle spasms, back in my younger years,” says the 55-year-old millright. “Then my discs began to deteriorate and the pain became progressively worse.”
After undergoing a microdiscectomy five years ago to relieve pain from a bulging disc, Szentesy knew that if that didn’t work, major spinal fusion surgery would be his only other option.
“I didn’t want that,” he says. “I knew friends and co-workers who’ve had that done, and they were laid-up for three or four months with painful recoveries. I thought that I would rather live with my daily back pain than go through that.”
Fortunately for Szentesy, in the five years since his first operation, a new minimally invasive procedure was developed that would redefine his impression of spinal fusion surgery.
The Spinal Fusion Solution
Called AxiaLIF (for Axial Lumbar Interbody Fusion), this new minimally invasive alternative to major spinal fusion surgery allows patients to recover much more quickly with much less pain than ever before.
“It’s almost unheard of that someone would be up and walking the next day after back surgery, but that’s what is possible with this procedure,” says Hytham Rifai, MD, neurological surgeon on staff at St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart. “We make much smaller incisions and avoid cutting through major tissue or nerves than with traditional lumbar fusions.”
With AxiaLIF, surgeons access the lower back through a one-inch incision next to the tailbone. A small tube is inserted and a channel created through which the procedure is performed. Guided with the use of x-rays, surgeons remove the diseased disc and insert bone growth material in its place. This material helps stimulate bone growth over time eventually allowing the vertebrae to “fuse.”
To restore and maintain the space between the vertebrae while the fusion takes place, an AxiaLIF implant is inserted, which also helps stabilize the spine. The entire surgery takes only an hour or two, and there is very little blood loss as compared to traditional methods. Patients, such as Szentesy, are usually up and walking within 24 hours and usually home within two or three days.
“Prior to AxiaLIF, we weren’t able to access the L5-S1 or L4-L5 vertebrae without major surgery because they were located behind the pelvic bone,” says Rifai. “By creating a small channel next to the tail bone, and using x-ray to navigate through the spine, we’re able to perform this surgery with little disruption to the spine or surrounding tissue.”
In addition to Dr. Rifai at St. Mary, other Community Healthcare System doctors, Marc Levin, MD, and Yevegniy Khavkin, MD, perform the procedure at Community Hospital in Munster.
“In a few short years, this will be the standard in spine fusion surgeries,” says Rifai. But he cautions that while this and many other spinal surgeries are becoming less invasive and allow patients to return to their normal lifestyles more quickly, they should still be considered as a last resort.
“Patients should exhaust all other options to alleviate back pain before committing to surgery,” says Rifai. “Only when physical therapy, medications or other methods fail to be effective, should surgical solutions be explored.”
For more information on this and many services offered at St. Mary Medical Center and the other hospitals of Community Healthcare System, Community Hospital in Munster and St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago, call toll free 866-836-3477 or visit the website at www.comhs.org.
