New and Improved Back Surgery - Minimally Invasive XLIF Procedure Uses Sideways Approach

Sixty-one-year-old Corrin Beckert has suffered from back pain for nearly forty years. She had scoliosis as a teenager and now lives with degenerative disc disease and spinal stenosis. Her pain has become so intense, that she now experiences numbness in her left leg and foot and has trouble standing. After trying pain pills, chiropractors, yoga, hot tubs, acupuncture, and many other treatments, she is now one of the first patients to undergo a new, less invasive alternative to traditional surgery called XLIF – or extreme-lateral interbody fusion. The procedure should relieve 70-80 percent of her pain and allow her to get back to the things she loves: shopping with her daughters, visiting theme parks, gardening, and sculpting.

Older surgical options to repair the back often cause as much trauma as the original injury because “open” surgery cuts through muscle and other tissue. But the new minimally invasive procedure developed by NuVasive® --- called extreme-lateral interbody fusion (XLIF) -- is giving back pain patients new hope. This innovative minimally invasive approach involves making two small one-inch incisions on the side of the torso. By entering through the side, the surgeon has a straight path to the vertebra, so the muscles of the back and abdomen are preserved. The surgeon then uses the assistance of a device called Neurovision® which alerts the surgeon if his probe is approaching a nerve so he can steer around it. With this procedure, patients are often walking the same day as their surgery, with 4-6 weeks of recovery rather than the traditional six or more months of recovery following a typical open back surgery. Most patients stay in the hospital for 24 hours following the procedure and do not require a brace.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by: WABC7, June 27, 2007.

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