{"id":797157,"date":"2019-06-27T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=367988"},"modified":"2019-06-27T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T15:00:00","slug":"neurosurgeon-completes-awake-spinal-fusion-surgery-a-first-in-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/neurosurgeon-completes-awake-spinal-fusion-surgery-a-first-in-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Neurosurgeon completes \u201cawake\u201d spinal fusion surgery, a first in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Board Certified Neurosurgeon Dr. Ernest Braxton completed a two-hour spinal surgery \u2014 during which the patient remained awake, alert, comfortable and able to watch a video on an iPad \u2014 in Vail earlier this month. <\/p>\n

This minimally-invasive surgery, called an Awake MIS TLIF (transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion), was the first of its kind performed in Vail. Keeping the patient awake, treated with localized pain blocks, avoids the need for general anesthesia and after-surgery narcotics. It allows Dr. Braxton to examine the patient\u2019s neurological condition during the procedure, which makes the operation safer. It also eliminates the need to use intravenous narcotics and decreases the overall cost of the hospital stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt allows me to locate what the pain generator is in real-time and fix it, and it ensures that the neurological structures are handled with great care during the surgery,\u201d Dr. Braxton, of Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery, said. \u201cIt also facilitates a more professional environment in the operating room that is centered on taking care of the patient and respect for the patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is a transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion procedure is a surgery designed to fuse two segments of bone together. The reasons for doing this can be to correct a deformity of the spine or to treat spinal instability, Dr. Braxton said. <\/p>\n

Patients that need a spine fusion generally have not responded to conservative therapies such as physical therapy or back injections. They often have spinal instability from arthritic joints or from a fracture in the spine. Most of these patients are suffering with chronic back pain and\/or leg pain.<\/p>\n

Benefits of remaining \u201cawake\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

While this operation is commonly done with a general anesthetic, Dr. Braxton said this is the first case in Vail done without general anesthesia, thus keeping the patient \u201cawake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis procedure utilizes pain blocks and local anesthesia rather than putting the patient to sleep and securing their airway with a breathing tube. It allows me to monitor the patient\u2019s neurological condition in real-time, reduces postoperative narcotics, and eliminates the need for IV narcotics\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Traditionally, patients stay in the hospital for three to four days after this type of surgery. Dr. Braxton said the awake surgery allows the patient to leave the hospital the same day or the next day. <\/p>\n

Quicker recovery time<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Braxton thinks there will be a real demand for this type of surgery in the mountains due to the speedier recovery time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think those are the types of results that our active population here in Vail and Summit County are looking for, and I am going to continue to bring new techniques to the Valley that will help our patients achieve their goals,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Patients with back problems tend to be a vulnerable population at risk for narcotic addiction, Dr. Braxton added, which is another reason why eliminating or reducing the postoperative narcotics required for this minimally invasive procedure is significant. <\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, awake spine surgery is a growing trend among minimally invasive spine surgeons, but was only available in major medical centers on the East or West coast,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Board Certified Neurosurgeon Dr. Ernest Braxton completed a two-hour spinal surgery \u2014 during which the patient remained awake, alert, comfortable and able to watch a video on an iPad \u2014 in Vail earlier this month.  This minimally-invasive surgery, called an Awake MIS TLIF (transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion), was the first of its kind performed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-797157","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 06:22:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}