New procedures fuel back surgery jump on Long Island
New technologies, aging baby boomers and the improving reputations of area hospitals have back surgeries surging on Long Island.
Throughout the 15 hospitals of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Long Island’s largest hospital chain, spine surgeries are up by more than 1,000 over the past five years and the system is on pace to perform almost 3,000 back surgeries this year.
Spinal surgeries have also jumped at South Nassau Communities Hospital by 100 a year, with 500 back procedures expected to be performed before 2007 expires, according to Mary Weiner, South Nassau’s vice president for perioperative services.
Baby boomers and new technologies aside, the biggest change in the world of back surgeries has been in patient attitudes about medical services on Long Island, according to Thomas Mauri, section director of the orthopedic spine program at North Shore-LIJ’s Harvey Cushing Institutes of Neuroscience.
“There was this sort of aura about going into Manhattan to have spine surgery done,” Mauri said. “We’ve started to show that we can do everything that can be done in the city.”
This attitude adjustment also means doctors who once opted for New York City work are finding it more acceptable to work here, furthering the Island trend.
That’s not to say new technologies aren’t key to opening the door to more patients. Topping the list of new procedures: “X Stop,” spinal stimulators and kyphoplasty procedures.
The “X Stop” is an implant inserted between vertebrae in the lower back to open space around a pinched nerve. Spinal stimulators are battery-powered devices that send signals along the spinal cord to kill pain alerts sent to the brain. In kyphoplasty procedures, small balloons are inflated in the area of spinal compression fractures and cement is injected into the opened space.
New procedures can range from about $10,000 to nearly $60,000, depending on the complexity of the procedure and number of vertebrae being operated on. Beyond the bottom line, these cutting-edge procedures have given those who suffer from back pain several options, where once there were none.
“Now there are a lot of people who are candidates for procedures,” said Michael Brisman, a neurosurgeon and partner at Neurological Surgery in Rockville Centre.
“In the past, there was nothing to offer them.”
Brisman’s practice has grown from a three-man operation in 1998 to 15 physicians, including six hired this year. Neurological Surgery is looking to hire at least one more doctor by January to meet continuously increasing demand, Brisman said.
In September, the practice opened a Commack office, he added, and will be opening two more in West Islip and Forest Hills in the coming months.
The Commack office of Long Island Spine Specialists has also seen an increase in patient volume - a direct result of people living longer, according to Spine Specialist Executive Director Mae Caime. The practice is planning to add two more physicians and open an additional office in Bay Shore late next year, Caime added.
With new technologies at their disposal, hospitals and medical practices have also stepped up their marketing efforts. Neurological Surgery has launched counter-marketing campaigns aimed at telling Long Islanders they can get the same quality of care as in New York City, Brisman said, and the practice has begun advertising its services in newspapers and on the radio.
“There’s plenty of spine business among the millions of people who live in Eastern Queens and Long Island,” Brisman said. “I think we’re more successful in holding onto it.”
Copyright 2007 Dolan Media Newswires
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