8. The Korea Times<1면> - Spinal Surgery Without Scar Possible
Spinal Surgery Without Scar Possible
In Search of Best Doctor (By Bae Ji-sook)
 
No one really understands the importance of the spine until they really injure it — in some cases not being able to walk, stand up, or in the worst case move at all.
Lee Sang-ho, chairman of Wooridul Spine Hospital, offers a magic answer for surgery, which is both less painful and more effective.
The hospital specializes in the treatment of spine and backache involving the treatment of the discs.
Discs lie between adjacent vertebrae in the spine and are formed of jellylike joints and fibers to allow movement of the vertebrae. They work as a ligament to hold the vertebrae together.
Problems arise when the discs get twisted, fall apart or malfunction in some other way. Lee says Koreans and other Asians, whose culture involves sitting on the ground, tend to have more spinal problems.
If one has difficulty bending the torso or sitting on a chair, feels rather comfortable when lying down only, cannot raise one’s legs vertically straight while laying down, cannot lift heavy items or has grave back pain after strenuous activity, he or she should consult a doctor, Lee says.
What brought Lee, the founder and chairman of his hospital, international fame is his use of minimally invasive surgery in the spinal area.
Instead of the conventional method of cutting into the back, necessarily damaging the bones and neurosystem in order to reach the discs, Lee employs a method of putting very little holes on the frontal part or flank, moving aside the body organs with long needles and targeting the disc only. With the help of stateof- the-art navigation CT/MRI equipment, diamond drills, microscopes, endoscopes, laser among others, he can treat wounds using a mere cut of about one or two inches.
Lee says the technique is effective for patients since it involves no destruction, no resection, no bleeding and therefore less pain and less risk of infection. “You can walk out of the hospital in five days and lead a normal life — play golf, too,” he says.
However, since it requires extreme accuracy, he says not all doctors are capable of performing it. There are about 600 such surgeons in the world, he says.
Lee says the level of Korean technique in spine treatment is by far the best. Lee quoted Dr. Michael Whitworth, noted American doctor as saying Wooridul is “light years ahead” of the U.S. “Since Koreans have small hands, we can deal with more delicate operations. The fact that we use the thinnest but the heaviest chopsticks in the world is attributable to the talent too,” he said.
Lee says the future direction of treatment will be more of noharm, no destruction, no scar and no damage at all. “I think the robots will do the work. Also, cell therapy will become common. When you have a problem with the spine, you will use your stem cells to cure them,” he said.
Lee holds overseas seminars about his technique, has trained numerous foreign doctors and currently heads the The World Congress of Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery Technique, International Intradiscal Therapy Society and several other academic societies.
He graduated from Pusan National University, gained his PhD at Yonsei University and has worked at numerous hospitals overseas such as the U.S., France, Switzerland and others. A devoted poet as well, Lee has also published some some poetry works.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr