JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- Chores like vacuuming were painful for Donna Amos. Amos suffered from severe back and leg pain that made doing simple tasks painful and difficult.
“It was constant pain in the back, constant burning down the left leg, so anything I did affected it, driving, sitting, walking, vacuuming,” Amos said.
After trying treatments like therapy and steroid injections Amos turned to Dr. Blake Rodgers with Spine Midwest. She was the first person in the Midwest to have a new artificial disc implanted in her lower spine.
The surgery is called Extreme Lateral Total Disc Replacement, XLTDR. If proven, it could be the best option for young patients to treat a disc problem before it gets worse.
“If we were able to intervene earlier as we are trying to do when the disc is degenerating, but not collapsed, then you can remove it and reconstruct it with an artificial disc that allows motion and prevents the development of the spurs and the pressure on the nerves,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers said his clinic Spine Midwest in Jefferson City is one of just 20 sites in the country testing the new device. It's a minimally invasive surgery and requires an incision only about as big as this quarter. Rodgers said it could be four to six years before the device sees FDA approval.
“The search has been on for disc replacement that can be put in more minimally invasively through less destructive approaches,” Rodgers said. “Disc replacements that involve less collateral damage and less risk.”
After her surgery, Amos was in the hospital overnight and off her job at the post office for four weeks, but she felt the pain relief almost instantly.
Amos participated in a clinical trial, which allowed her to get surgery for free. She has to do follow up visits for several years as researchers collect data on the procedure.
“The pain before was almost unbearable, and the pain after the surgery was almost nil,” Amos said.
See the transcript from the Live Chat with Dr. Rodgers
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