New spinal surgery unique to Central Florida offers faster recovery with less pain, fewer complications

ORLANDO, Fla. - A new surgery unique to Central Florida is changing the lives of people suffering from back pain.

Scott Chase knows the feeling of pain all too well.

"I’ve had a lifetime of doing things I shouldn’t have done," Chase said. "Lifting things I should not have lifted."

Over the years, he struggled with worsening back pain and refused to rely on pain medications while working as a first responder."

With my job I probably stand seven hours a day minimum and I could no longer hold the weight of myself up," Chase said.

One day, he said he woke up unable to walk.

"He showed up in excruciating pain both back and leg pain," said Dr. Saeed Sadrameli, an endoscopic spine surgeon at AdventHealth. "He couldn’t sit, stand or lie down. Just miserable. A lot of pain."

Dr. Sadrameli determined he had a disc herniation that caused severe sciatica."I said, ‘can you fix me?’ He said, ‘I can,’" Chase said.

So Dr. Sadrameli recommended an endoscopic discectomy, an ultra-minimally invasive procedure on his herniated disc.

"So instead of the 1.5 inch incision that we used to do right in the middle of the back - cutting muscle and removing bone, now we use a small working channel – a small cannula the size of a dime – 8mm incision to perform the same procedure," Dr. Sadrameli said. "Takes about an hour and the patients get to go home right after and back to their normal life in 72 hours. It’s been incredible. I don’t prescribe any narcotics for these patients. So that’s been a huge change in my clinical practice."

Chase had the surgery on a Monday and was back to work that Friday.

"My back is the strongest part of my body," Chase said. "The rest of my body can’t keep up now."

Since surgery, Chase has gone on to enjoy several hikes and building projects, like repurposing a school bus into an RV.

"I am 58 years old and I feel fantastic," Chase said.

Chase gifted Dr. Sadrameli with a personalized walking stick that he made for him.

"This is what I live for – to be able to see the translation from the patient crying from pain to crying for joy," Dr. Sadrameli said.

Dr. Sadrameli said this type of endoscopic spine surgery offers patients a faster recovery with less pain and fewer complications compared to traditional spinal surgery, but the procedure is rare because it requires surgeons to learn and use new technology with extensive training.

So Dr. Sadrameli is leading the way to train more spinal surgeons in Orlando.

"I think it’s very important for the majority of the spine surgeons both the ones coming out of training and the ones that have been in practice to at least get exposed to endoscopy and be able to bring that to their practice. Patients could definitely benefit from that," he said.