JaneyGrace Dobbs, who designs electronics for communication satellites, was understandably concerned when faced with the prospect of back surgery for a degenerative disc between the L4 and L5 vertebrae, in the lumbar region of her lower back.
The Los Angeles mechanical engineer was especially anxious since the procedure she was considering had only been tried once before in the U.S.
“The decision to do the surgery weighed on me very, very heavily,” said JaneyGrace, who had been selected to participate a new clinical trial at HonorHealth Research Institute called DISCPAIN1, testing the safety and effectiveness of the PerQdisc artificial disc implant.
“Everyone (elsewhere) seemed to have a horror story about their back surgery,” she recalled. And because the procedure was part of a trial, “it was a little bit scary. That was a large part of the trepidation and uneasiness that contributed to it being a difficult decision.”
First diagnosed with a deteriorating disc in July 2022, JaneyGrace had already tried physical therapy and steroid injections, and was running out of options to alleviate the mounting pain in her back, caused by a loss of the jelly-like material that acts like a cushion between the bones of the spine.
“The pain was getting a lot worse and was really starting to impact my mood, my day-to-day life,” she said, adding that it felt extreme to have a disk replaced. “But I was in a lot of pain, and I just wanted to get another opinion.”
Referred to the Institute’s Dr. Tumialan
About a year ago, JaneyGrace eventually saw a Santa Monica physician, well-known for disk-replacement surgery, who recommended she see Luis Tumialan, M.D., an ASU School of Medicine and Medical Engineering neurosurgeon who specializes in spine and neurosurgery as part of the HonorHealth Research Institute’s Neuroscience Research Division.
As it turned out, JaneyGrace — now 33, but 32 at the time of the surgery — was an ideal candidate for the procedure, performed Nov. 19 by Dr. Tumialan: “What we’re doing is we are using silicone to re-pressurize the disc and in doing so we alleviate the mechanical compression of the disc and decrease the pain.”
The procedure is intended for those in their middle years, those 25 to 50 years old. Those younger than 25 generally don’t experience much deterioration, and those older than 50 may experience so much deterioration that this procedure is no longer available to them.
For years, physicians have either fused the vertebrae, limiting motion, or inserted a substitute artificial disc, which is a more extensive surgery.
Only now has a San Antonio, Texas, manufacturer, Spinal Stabilization Technologies, been able to perfect the right materials and technique to make an alternative work. Insertion of a PerQdisc is a less-invasive procedure that preserves the outer part of the disc, maintains mobility, and restores functionality while preventing any further deterioration of the spine.
How the procedure works
Using a metallic straw about 6mm in diameter, a surgeon takes out the original jelly material and fills it back up with a type of small balloon filled with a silicone substitute. The simplicity of this one-visit procedure allows the patient to go home and resume most normal activities the same day.
After doing research and reading about the success of the procedure in Europe and South America, JaneyGrace said she was reassured by the rigorous testing the device had undergone: “That was the one positive data point that gave me some comfort in deciding to do it.”
The procedure was performed in the morning, and she was home that same day. She still had some residual pain for a few months, but that has mostly subsided and she is back to doing more activities, even golf, which she had practiced since she was 8 years old. She’s now engaged to be married and is planning a wedding soon.
“Before the surgery I couldn’t walk more than about a half mile without being a ton of pain,” JaneyGrace said. Now, she’s able to get out and on her feet without any restriction. “I feel a lot better. It’s like night and day, compared to before I had the surgery.”
She’s still building back her strength but feels like she is making good progress, and is thankful for all the help she received at the Research Institute: “I had a wonderful experience with HonorHealth. I had a fabulous coordinator who was absolutely wonderful to work with. Very, very comforting.
“I can’t say enough good things about Dr. Tumialan himself and his staff. They were all super, super attentive. I feel so incredibly lucky that I found out about and got to do the surgery, and that I’ve had so much success from it. I know that is not guaranteed. I’m so incredibly thankful.”
Asked about JaneyGrace’s prognosis, Dr. Tumialan said, “The patient is doing amazing! Her pain levels have significantly decreased.”
