Video

Dr. Choll Kim
More From This Member

Expert Bio

Who Will Benefit From Spinal Surgery? - Dr. Kim (VIDEO)

Dr. Kim shares the patients who will benefit from spinal surgery.

Dr. Kim:
All types of patients can benefit from minimally invasive spine surgery. Really, it’s the underlying diagnosis that drives the type of procedure that we perform when surgery is necessary. I think the important thing is that minimally invasive surgery is not one operation; it’s a spectrum of operations starting from a small laser endoscopic surgery where we use an endoscope and a TV camera and a small little stab incision with the patient awake, all the way to treating a patient with scoliosis, a lot of deformity.

These patients have constant pain. They have difficulty standing up straight, and they may not be able to walk much more than about 50 feet. Those patients have much bigger problems, and maybe five years ago we would not be able to treat that patient minimally invasively because those problems are much more complex.

But today, at our institution we can take care of those patients very well in a way that’s similar to the open surgery in terms of the outcome and in terms of trying to accomplish the goals of straightening the spine out and decompressing the nerves. But we can do it in a vastly different way that greatly changes the morbidity, the surgical trauma of that procedure by just using some very simple minimally invasive techniques.

About Dr. Kim, M.D.:
Dr. Choll Kim graduated cum laude from Harvard Medical School and completed his fellowship training in complex spine surgery at the Mayo Clinic. He is board certified by American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Dr. Kim is a nationally known expert in the modern field of computer-assisted minimally invasive spine surgery. He has trained specialists throughout the country on the safe and effective application of state-of-the-art techniques using image guidance and navigation technologies.

For More Information On Spine Surgery And The Advanced Spine Institute Visit Advanced Spine Institute & Minimally Invasive Spine Center at Alvarado Hospital.

CONNECT with Women Interested inBack Conditions

Pat Elliott

Back Conditions Guide