OhioHealth - OhioHealth Dimensions Summer 2009

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Summer 2009

Advanced Surgical Spine Treatments Restore Patients' Health More Quickly

Dublin Methodist Hospital offers the latest surgical interventions to relieve back and neck pain and correct deformities. Many offer higher success rates and fewer complications than traditional surgery.

"The hospital has done an excellent job of providing the resources necessary to develop a unit dedicated to spine patients," says Milan B. Herceg, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Dublin Methodist and Riverside Methodist Hospital. "It's one of the benefits of being part of the OhioHealth system and having a strong collaborative relationship with Riverside."

Dublin Methodist has the capacity to perform most elective cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine surgeries for both fusion and decompression. Even though Dublin Methodist is a community hospital, surgeons can do any elective spine procedure there that can be done at other hospitals.

Discectomies, fusions and laminectomies (or laminotomies) to treat disorders such as ruptured or herniated discs, stenosis, fractures, instability and pain make up the bulk of the hospital's surgical interventions, which have increased this year to an average of about 35 per month.

Using the Latest Technology
Many employ the most recent instrumentation and techniques to provide safe and effective outcomes while mitigating the trauma of standard surgery.

Surgeons always aim for a minimally invasive procedure whenever possible. Working with smaller instruments through smaller incisions can shorten hospital stays, better manage pain and speed recovery.

Microscopic discectomy, for example, involves removing damaged disc material with less tissue disruption through a small posterior incision. An operating microscope allows Dublin Methodist surgeons to perform this minimally invasive treatment through magnified vision. "It's an outpatient procedure that reduces morbidity and provides a quicker return to an active lifestyle," Dr. Herceg says.

Better Results
Surgeons also enjoy higher success rates and fewer complications for spinal fusions with advanced technology that substitutes bone morphogenic proteins (or bmp's) for bone grafts placed between the vertebrae to heal them together. "These proteins stimulate the body's cells to become bone-forming cells," Dr. Herceg says. "They spare patients a second, often painful procedure that extracts grafts from their hip, raising the risk of blood loss and infection." State-of-the-art diagnostic tools at Dublin Methodist verify sources of pain and help physicians determine which patients will have the best results from surgery.

Neuromonitoring that tracks electrophysiologic signals during surgery reduces the risk of damage to the nervous system and "is another example of Dublin Methodist's refusal to compromise care for its spine patients," Dr. Herceg says.

Community Care
As a community hospital, Dublin Methodist delivers the best available spinal care in a more intimate and less crowded setting than spine programs in larger hospitals. "Our patients have been extremely pleased with their experience here," Dr. Herceg says. "The initial feedback from them has been very positive. Our goal is to make the patient experience as good as it can be, with the highest level of care."

To find out more about spine care and other state-of-the-art treatments at Dublin Methodist Hospital, visit www.ohiohealth.com/dublinmethodist.

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