First day-case lumbar microdiscectomy carried out at the Whit

The Whittington Health NHS Trust Spinal Surgery team are delighted to announce the first day-case lumbar microdiscectomy has been carried out with a very happy and pain-free patient.

 

Adam was seen by consultant Mr Ramsey Chammaa. Before his surgery, the option of the traditional procedure including an overnight stay was discussed, alongside the option to undergo this new day-case service, which would enable Adam to return home the same day as his surgery, provided it was clinically safe for him to do so.

 

While there is a lot of evidence that supports the benefits of a 'day-case lumbar microdiscectomy', and national guidance encouraging acute Trusts to implement this in their services, there are only a handful of reports of this kind of surgery taking place in the UK.

Mr Ramsey Chammaa, Consultant Spinal Surgeon, said, "this new approach to lumbar discectomy means that patients like Adam can continue to recover from an operation at home, avoiding an overnight stay in hospital, which in turn, helps our organisation to free up a bed for a patient who may need it more. We hope Adam will be the first of many happy patients to benefit from this new service.”

Mr Arash Aframian, Spine Registrar said, “It is only through co-operative working of a number of teams behind the scenes including clinics, imaging, scheduling, pre-assessment, anaesthetics, theatres, recovery, nursing and therapists that we were able to do the first reported day case discectomy in the NHS London and surrounding regions.”