CHARLESTON, SC NEWS - LIVE 5 WCSC Breaking News, Weather, SportsNew surgery gets people on their feet faster

New surgery gets people on their feet faster

Tracey Amick, Live 5 News

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - They come in on stretchers and then walk back out the door. Doctors using non-invasive surgies are turning operations into out-patient procedures.

"My main hobby is hunting." And at 85 years old, John Moore still gets out there and hunts with his son a good bit. But last year while he was putting out some feed he hurt his back.

"Lifting a 50 lb. bag of corn and everything it really started hurting -- that's when I had to go to the doctor."He found out that pain was actually 2 vertabrae that had fractured.

The traditional treatment for many many years was conservative therapy wearing a back brace and pain meds for 6-8 weeks or longer. That was Too long for a former Marine like Moore to be out of commission. So instead Dr. Joe Mullaney used a non-invasive procedure on Moore called kyphoplasty.

"We put a balloon in we inflate the balloon it raises the vertabrae it creates a void and we fill that void with cement and that hardens in 10 minutes."

Dr. Mullaney says kyphoplasty is much easier in older patients especially with osteoporosis because their bones are much softer making it easier for the needles to push through. And the whole process takes just a few hours.

"As opposed to an open surgery, no stitches are involved. You take it out, put a bandaid on it and walk out the door."

Moore says it was easy. Good thing, since a few weeks later, he fractured two other vertabrae when his wife fell out of bed. "I naturally tried to help her up of course and I redid it."

So Mullaney redid the kyphoplasty. "It was pretty quick; I came home the same day."

And now Moore says he's taking it easy, and his back is good for at least another 15 years. "I can pick up pretty good I don't abuse it."

The surgery is usually covered by insurance. And Mullaney says these patients can actually end up saving money by not having to buy pain medications.