Spinal canal:

Micro-balloon widens stenosis without surgery

Excruciating back pain. At first occasional, then more and more frequent. To make matters worse, it radiates down the leg. It feels numb, and walking becomes unsteady. An MRI scan confirms the dreaded diagnosis: spinal stenosis! "The only solution is spinal fusion surgery," doctors often say. Neurosurgeon Dr. Samer Ismail from the Munich East Spine Center sees things quite differently. The experienced neurosurgeon relies on minimally invasive procedures. With a wafer-thin balloon catheter, he can widen the narrowed spinal canal in many cases, thus eliminating the pain. He has already spared numerous patients surgery with this modern method.

Back to mobility – The victory over back pain

One of them is Lisa R. (53). She works at the reception desk of a large hotel and is on her feet all day. But lately, she's been calling in sick more and more often. Severe back pain! Eventually, she even had to ask her boss to transfer her to an office job, even though she always enjoyed the direct contact with the guests so much. "Despite taking the maximum dose of medication, the pain hadn't stopped for weeks," Lisa describes her ordeal. "It was also radiating deep into my leg, so I could only walk a few meters. It was maddening." After an MRI scan, Lisa's orthopedist diagnosed spinal stenosis. He gave her injections and prescribed physical therapy. But nothing helped: "He even wanted to refer me to a hospital for surgery. But I was terrified of such a procedure." Today, Lisa is back at her hotel's reception desk. She beams: "I'm no longer in pain, I can walk for hours again, life is wonderful! Dr. Ismail saved me with a balloon catheter. Completely without surgery."„

Dr. med. Samer Ismail

✉ info@wz-muenchenost.de

☎ +49 89 420 45 017

Since 2012, we have been certified as a highly specialized spine center throughout Germany and at the WZMO we treat all acute and chronic diseases and pain conditions of the spine.

The solution:
The spinal center in eastern Munich

Lisa got the address of the Munich East Spine Center from a hotel guest who had the same problems and traveled to Munich for treatment with Dr. Ismail. "I never would have thought that this gentle therapy would work so well for me. But my greatest wish has come true. I can live pain-free again." Dr. Samer Ismail, considered one of the leading back specialists and who has already operated on many thousands of patients' spines, now focuses primarily on minimally invasive procedures: "Modern medicine is currently undergoing a paradigm shift.".

Instead of damaging and removing tissue, we have shifted our focus to repairing and regenerating it. Modern catheter techniques, for example, are ideally suited for this. Of the nearly 200,000 spinal canal surgeries performed annually in Germany, most are unnecessary. Surgery is only required in severe and advanced cases where the narrowing is primarily caused by bony growths. Constrictions caused by intervertebral discs or thickened ligaments, on the other hand, can be treated minimally invasively and without surgery. Unfortunately, the fantastic possibilities of these new and gentle methods are not yet sufficiently known to all our colleagues.“

Relieving spinal canal pain: The balloon catheter as a gentle method

The principle behind Lisa Reger's spinal canal treatment using a wafer-thin balloon catheter originally comes from cardiology. Instead of bypass surgery, heart specialists have long used such catheters to widen narrowed coronary arteries. "We've now applied this to the spine," explains Dr. Ismail. His balloon catheter is essentially a further development of the Racz catheter, which has been used for over 20 years to gently deliver pain-relieving, decongestant, and anti-inflammatory medications to affected areas of the spine and intervertebral discs. However, new catheter models are now available that offer even more capabilities.

Dr. Ismail explains how he now avoids many stenosis surgeries: „The patient lies on their stomach and receives only local anesthesia and light sedation. Through a small natural opening at the back of the sacrum, where no nerves can be damaged, we insert the ultra-thin catheter into the narrow space between the vertebral body and the spinal canal. Under X-ray guidance, we carefully advance it to the painful area where intervertebral disc tissue or ligaments are narrowing the spinal canal.“

What's special about the new technique: Using a control unit, Dr. Ismail can move the flexible catheter tip 360 degrees and, thanks to a built-in mini video camera, guide it with millimeter precision to any desired point under direct visual control: "This tiny built-in camera allows us to navigate very precisely and see exactly where any changes are present." Through the catheter, which is only a few millimeters thick, Dr. Ismail then inserts an even thinner, folded micro-balloon. Where the spinal canal is narrowed, he inflates it, pushing back swollen disc tissue and thickened ligaments, thus widening the constrictions: "In the same way, we can also release adhesions and remove scar tissue that often forms after previous surgeries."„

But the catheter can do much more:

A radiofrequency electrode also loosens adhesions and scar tissue, removes scar tissue, and soothes inflamed nerve roots and pain-conducting fibers.

An electric micro-knife cuts through tissue and removes larger adhesions.

A built-in rinsing and suction mechanism cleans the epidural space and suctions away removed tissue.

„This,“ says Dr. Ismail, „allows us to perform virtually all the steps of the procedure from the inside, just like in open surgery, without having to open the back. This is possible under local anesthesia and twilight sedation for spinal stenosis, herniated discs, chronic back pain, inflamed nerve roots and pain after previous surgeries, both on an inpatient and outpatient basis.“

Patient Lisa R. could hardly believe her luck:
„"I will always be grateful to Dr. Ismail for that."“

Acute back pain? Need advice? We're ready!

Are you already suffering from severe back pain and suspect something more serious? Then don't wait too long, contact us as soon as possible. Book your appointment online or call us during our office hours.

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