Press Date: 09/21/2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio -Doctors and patients say XLIF is less painful than traditional open back surgery.
If heat pads, pain medication and chiropractic care aren't enough to cure your back pain, you may be a candidate for a revolutionary new surgery.
A new procedure called Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion, or XLIF, is now being performed at Riverside Methodist Hospital.
Ten months ago it would have been a struggle for Jane McKean to stand up. She says her back pain was unbearable.
"It impaired my life a lot. I'm a pretty active person so for me to give up and get in a wheelchair to go shopping, that's exactly what I had to do," she said. But after undergoing XLIF, McKean says she feels great, as if she never had back problems. And her scarring is barely visible-compared to the big scar left on her back from open back surgery.
"I was up walking the very same day," said McKean.
During XLIF surgeons go in through a patient's side rather than back. Two two-inch incisions are made, a retractor system opens the spine up, and the surgeon inserts a large spacer to give the spine more support.
XLIF is used to treat patients who suffer from herniated discs or spinal deformities such as scoliosis. The procedure takes anywhere from 20 to 90 minutes, and there's only a one- to two-day recovery period.
"It's a lot less painful because you're not really disrupting the back muscles coming from the side and you lose less blood as well," explained Dr. Kelly Kiehm, "People with the open procedure with the standard back surgery, they're hurting a lot in bed. They can barely move. Whereas with the XLIF procedure, they're up and walking the same day."
