Dr. Vasilios Zerris performs minimally invasive surgery on a patient with a brain tumor.
and surgeons had to cut or move muscles
to get to the spine. With minimally
invasive surgery, there is no damage to the
muscles, and the incision is 1.5 inches
long. (For those patients who aren’t
candidates for surgery, an innovative pain
management program can help. See
sidebar on p. 8.)
“The scar is almost nothing, compared
to the huge scars that patients used to
have,” says Dr. Zerris. Minimally invasive
surgery carries other advantages as well,
says Brian Lidiak, associate executive
director of the Neuroscience Institute at
Scott & White. “It’s less intrusive,” he says.
“A lot of the patients can go home the next
day, or have a very short hospital stay.”
Minimally invasive neurosurgery,
particularly for spinal procedures, has
taken off in the last five years, Dr. Zerris
says. Mr. Lidiak believes the popularity
and possibilities of minimally invasive
techniques will continue to grow. “We’re
really scratching the surface of what we
can do,” he says. “The push will be to do
even more procedures using minimally
invasive techniques.”
The center also may attract people
from outside the region. Scott & White
plans to bring minimally invasive
neurosurgery services to its hospitals in
Waco and Round Rock in a year’s time.
This will help even more people receive
highly specialized care closer to home. ■
Dr. Zerris also is an assistant professor of
surgery, the Texas A&M Health Science Center
College of Medicine.
MORE ON THIS STORY
@
sw.org
sw.org | Summer 10 THE CATALYST
7