New Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Treatment for Neck Pain!
JOIMAX, a world leader in minimally invasive spinal surgery technology will be launching a new endoscopic system for neck surgery on April 3rd to 5th at the International Society of the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) meeting in Vancouver, BC. This advanced surgical system called CESSYS (Cervical Endoscopic Surgical System) will provide an alternative to traditional open neck surgery and will change how neck surgery is done in the future!
Cervical disk herniation is a common cause of pain, stiffness, numbness and weakness. Traditional neck surgery involves a large incision, retraction of the voice box and food tube, removal of the entire disk, and fusion that may produce ugly scars, hoarse voice, swallowing difficulty and stiffness at the fused level. Cervical fusion also may involve future neck pain and surgery because the remaining disks must compensate for the fused level and may become damaged from excessive movement. An enormous amount of research has been focused on this adjacent level disease.
The artificial cervical disk was developed to avoid fusion and prevent adjacent level disease and future surgeries. Even though the artificial disk was welcomed with great enthusiasm, long-term results are unknown, and there is concern for the longevity of these man-made disks. Minimally invasive posterior cervical discectomy was another approach developed to avoid fusion and subsequent adjacent level disease, although unfortunately, most disks are not approachable through the back of the neck. This has led to development of an endoscopic discectomy through the front of the neck, similar to, but less invasive than the traditional open neck surgery.
Endoscopic spine surgery has become a popular alternative to traditional spine surgery. The endoscope is a pen-sized, high-definition video camera that is inserted into the spine under x-ray guidance. The endoscope allows the surgeon to find and remove the herniated portion of the disk under direct visualization with very tiny instruments, relieving pain and suffering. Advantages of endoscopic surgery include a tiny skin incision, minimal tissue damage and pain, quicker recovery and same-day discharge.
JOIMAX designed the CESSYS cervical endoscopic surgery system to minimize tissue damage and be versatile enough to remove most disk herniation without the need of fusion, with the objective of decreasing the need for future surgery. The CESSYS cervical endoscopic surgical system will be available in the United States in the fall of 2013 to select JOIMAX instructors and faculty, including Dr. Carl Spivak.