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Minimally Invasive Surgery at St. Mary's Medical Center Gives Patients a Shorter Recovery
Marsha Bostic now enjoys being outside her home enjoying the summer weather. Before the procedure at St. Mary's, her body had trouble controlling her temperature and being outside in the heat was difficult.
July 26, 2010 @ 09:06 AM
Laura C. Wilcox
Herald-Dispatch.com
From head to toe, St. Mary's Medical Center is reducing the pain of many once difficult surgeries by offering more minimally invasive procedures.
Just this year, St. Mary's began removing pituitary tumors using a tiny endoscope through the nose, going directly to the base of the skull to reach the problem. The endoscopic skull base surgery is performed using a team approach, including an otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat physician) and a neurosurgeon.
"The procedure allows us to reach areas of the skull base that, in the past, were not easily accessible through more routine approaches, including microscopic approaches," said Dr. David L. Weinsweig, a board-certified neurosurgeon at St. Mary's.
Weinsweig was trained in the approach in March 2010. He completed a comprehensive course at the University of Pittsburgh Skull Base Center, which he called the pioneer site for endoscopic skull base technology.
The Huntington doctor was introduced to the newer minimally invasive technology for the procedure by Dr. Ross Germani. For over 20 years, Dr. Weinsweig had been doing this same surgery utilizing a microscope. Germani, who moved to the Tri-State area from Miami, Fla., in 2009 to join the Holzer Clinic, had previous training in endoscopic skull base surgeries. He invited Weinsweig to Pittsburgh for hands-on training and to develop a team approach for these procedures.
By having years of experience doing this same procedure by way of a different means, Dr. Weinsweig was excited to do the less invasive, team approach to the surgery. Dr. Germani added, "We've now done several extremely successful cases at St. Mary's. We're building the program to let people know you don't have to go outside the area to get this done."
Germani, a board certified otolaryngologist and head and neck surgeon at Holzer Clinic, said many patients previously traveled to Cincinnati or Lexington to have pituitary tumors removed. He said the abnormal growths are quite common, and he expects more of these procedures will now be done locally at St. Mary's Medical Center.
Weinsweig said the endoscopic approach decreases morbidity while increasing visualization of the tumor, allowing surgeons to get into smaller areas more easily. It also decreases a patient's recovery time, he said, among other advantages.
"There's basically no visible scar," he said. "There's less pain and it allows patients to tolerate the surgery much better."
Germani agreed the cutting-edge surgery offers many benefits to patients, as before they may have had to undergo incisions to the upper lip or nose..
"It's a better surgery for many reasons, especially in regards to patient recovery," he said, adding that doctors can see more clearly at greater distances and can even look around corners using the endoscope.
Currently, many people having the procedure done are those who want to prevent progressive vision loss, headaches, blurry vision and other systemic problems, Germani said.
He said patients' reactions to the procedure have been overwhelming. In the last two cases, patients reported experiencing no pain. "Which is kind of unbelievable when you're talking about doing brain surgery through the nose," Dr. Germani said. (repetitive)
Doctors monitored a tumor on 52-year-old Marsha Bostic's pituitary gland for four years before they said its size indicated that it was time to operate. She had surgery in February and said she'd recommend Doctors Germani and Weinsweig to anyone.
"They were so good to me," she said. "They explained everything and I trusted them completely."
The Barboursville resident said the doctors put her to sleep and got to work, going through the sinuses to reach the spot, which turned out to be a cyst. The surgery lasted about five hours.
"I was in recovery for maybe an hour or two," she said. "I was up walking around the next day, and I came home and did fine. No problems."
Bostic said she has a relative who also had a tumor on her pituitary gland, and traveled to California to have it removed. "I was able to access the same excellent care, right here in Huntington, with Dr. Germani and Dr. Weinsweig," Bostic added.
For more information about this procedure, call Dr. Weinsweig at 304-525-6825, or Dr. Germani at 740-886-8370.
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