Michael Gallizzi, MD, is the first spine surgeon in the Colorado Rockies region to incorporate three major endoscopic spine techniques in his practice.
Dr. Gallizzi is performing transforaminal, intralaminar and medical branch transcection endoscopic spine surgery, he told Becker's March 17. He said spine surgeons Albert Telfeian, MD, PhD; Sohrab Gollogly, MD, and Ray Gardocki, MD, mentored him with endoscopic techniques.
So far, he's done about 150 total endoscopic spine surgeries in his career. He said he's also involved with training other surgeons with endoscopic techniques and cutting down the learning curve.
"A lot of times orthopedic surgeons have a slight advantage because they use scopes all the time for knees and shoulders, hips and wrist surgeries," Dr. Gallizzi said. "But people further out in practice have lost some of their scoping skills. Being able to build that skill set back for spine surgeons is incredibly important."
Dr. Gallizzi also said he thinks endoscopic spine surgery will grow exponentially in the near future.
"I think with more interest in the U.S., we're going to see an acceleration of this because it is truly the ultra minimally-invasive technique to be able to treat problems," he said. "I think as spine continues to move into the ASC space, these procedures are going to be more demanded by the public, and spine surgeons are going to have to start including this in their practice."