UC San Francisco is cutting patient recovery times by offering to perform the procedure while they're still awake.
What you should know:
1. The university began offering transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion surgery in spring 2018.
2. About 10 patients have opted to stay awake through the procedure since then.
3. By staying awake, patients can be mobile and pain-free by the end of the day
4. UC San Francisco does this by using the long-acting, local anesthetic liposomal bupivacaine. When injected in the lower back, the anesthetic relieves pain for 72 hours. By not having to put a patient under, surgeons can perform the procedure in one to three hours, compared to four to six hours.
5. "It's changing my practice in that I can get my patients through their surgery much more quickly," said Praveen Mummaneni, MD.