Awake spine surgery credited with short recovery time for patients
EDISON, New Jersey (WABC) -- Anuj Kapoor was able to attend his son's high school graduation in a proud and pain free moment.
It is hard to believe that just a few days before, the 49-year-old was in the operating room having back surgery.
Roughly four hours after the procedure he was on the move, back on his feet and feeling remarkably good.
"I was able to walk in the hallway with the doctor, walk and talk and walk back which is unheard of," Kapoor said.
The married father of two credits his quick recovery to Dr. Alok Sharan, a leading expert in the field of awake spine surgery.
"If the discs are like tires, his tire was flat," Dr. Sharan said.
He is the founder of the Spine and Performance Institute in Edison, New Jersey.
He says in the world of medicine it's a game changer.
"People are doing awake brain surgery, awake hand surgery, in Chicago recently they did awake kidney transplant surgery, which is amazing," Dr. Sharan said.
Right now, during certain surgeries, there's a shift away from using general anesthesia, which can mean longer hospital stays and recovery time.
During this technique, you aren't literally awake, rather in a state of twilight.
"What we are doing is using a combination of local and regional anesthesia, along with sedation, the same sedation you have when you have a colonoscopy. It's avoiding the gas from general anthelia which ultimately leads to a faster recovery," he said.
Kapoor was an ideal candidate.
His problems started in 2005 while on vacation with his wife.
A deep tissue massage left him with a herniated disc.
The pain was excruciating and over time, less conservative treatments were giving him little relief.
"I was getting less than 3 to 4 hours of sleep every night. I couldn't do basic functions like lifting a small bag, small things would hurt my back," Kapoor said.
During the roughly 90-minute surgery, through a small incision, the doctor placed screws in Kapoor's back.
Eight days later, Kapoor returned for his post-op visit.
To help with inflammation patients can receive IV infusions.
Well on his way, Kapoor is looking forward to getting back to his old self.
"I'm an active person, I like to go to the gym, my wife and I like to work out, we want to do some hikes together, if I could do that, this worked for me," he said.
Patients from all over the world are coming to see Dr. Sharan who also teaches other physicians how to perform awake spine surgery.
There are risks, but experts say they are low, things like infection and numbness down the leg.
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