New techniques in outpatient spine surgery could widen access

Awake surgical techniques will broaden who can receive procedures

IN THE NEWS: Dr. Don Y. Park, a surgeon at the UCI Health Comprehensive Spine Center, recently spoke to Becker’s Spine Review about advances in outpatient spine surgery that he foresees in the next five years.

“Awake spine surgery techniques with epidural, spinal and fascial blocks can allow more patients to undergo spine surgery without the need for general anesthesia. This will allow older patients with more medical comorbidities to have endoscopic spine surgery performed in the outpatient setting.”

Park is a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopaedic spine surgeon with expertise in endoscopic spine surgery, minimally invasive spine surgery and outpatient spine surgery.

Park is one of the first to perform biportal endoscopic spine surgery and endoscopic lumbar fusion in the U.S. He is internationally recognized as a key opinion leader in spinal endoscopy and lectures regularly throughout the world on the innovative technique.

He has published both basic science and clinical peer-reviewed journal articles, as well as written textbook chapters on minimally invasive and endoscopic spine surgery. He has won multiple “Best Paper” awards for his research from the North American Spine Society and the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery.

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