By BILL KETTLER
Mail Tribune

Spinal fusion surgery used to mean four or five days in a hospital and weeks of convalescence while big incisions healed.

New surgical tools allow physicians to do the same procedure with much smaller incisions and send patients home sooner — sometimes after just one night in the hospital.

Dr. Mark Peterson of Medford is using a new tool that allows him to work on a patient’s spine with just two small incisions. Peterson is one of about a dozen physicians across the United States working with the MaXcess retractor, built by San Diego-based NuVasive Inc.

"I've been in practice about 10 years," Peterson said. "In the past two or three years I've seen a few similar tools, but none that have opened the door (like this one) for such marked clinical improvement over traditional treatment."

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The tool consists of three long, slender metal fingers arrayed around a central axis. Peterson inserts the retractor into a 1- to 2-inch incision and gently works it between muscles to reach the spine. Then he turns a dial that spreads the fingers and locks them in place, creating a golf-ball-sized opening to work on the patient’s spine.

"We’re not cutting tissues," he said, explaining how the tool works. "We’re spreading them apart.

"The neat thing about this technology is that it allows us to do the things we’re trained to do," he said. "We just use a smaller hole."

The retractor is just one part of the system. Peterson also uses nerve sensor technology to safely dissect through tissues and place metal screws that are used in spinal fusion.

X-ray technology allows Peterson to see where his eyes can’t. "If you can’t see something with your eyes, you see through the nerve monitoring system and X-ray (fluoroscopy).

"Lots of technologies come together to make this work," he said.

New tools help hospitals dramatically reduce the cost of spinal fusion surgery because patients spend less time in the operating room and fewer days in the hospital. At Providence Medford Medical Center, for example, where Peterson does surgeries, the new techniques can reduce the total cost of a surgery and hospital stay by as much as $15,000, or about 27 percent.

Phyllis Kasser of Medford knows the advantages of the new tool from personal experience. She had a disc fusion 12 years ago, when the procedure was done with much larger incisions, and a second fusion in March when Peterson used the new retractor.

"When I had my first operation, I couldn’t get out of bed for two days, and then I could only walk about four steps," she recalled. "On the third day I was walking down the hall. On the fourth day they let me go home. My husband had to help me with everything for two or three days."

After her second surgery, she went home the next day.

"They had me walking the same day," she said. "I could hardly believe it. There’s no comparison between the two."

Peterson said the new tools work well for some patients, but it’s impossible to tell which ones without a consultation with a surgeon.

"These new options are great for some people, but they’re not for everybody."

Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail bkettler@mailtribune.com

Public invited to attend ‘Total Spine Conference’

Dr. Mark Peterson will talk about emerging technologies for spinal surgery Friday in a conference sponsored by Providence Medford Medical Center. The "Total Spine Conference" will include presentations about common spinal disorders as well as surgical and non-surgical treatment options.

The program begins at 2 p.m. in the Rogue Room at the Rogue Valley Manor’s Skyline Plaza, 1200 Mira Mar Drive. There is no admission charge, and the public is welcome. For more information, call 732-7746.