Patient Case Studies

Here is a patient with a prolonged history of severe back pain and leg numbness. He underwent an anterior and posterior lumbar fusion in the form of an Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion. This was performed by Dr. Pablo Pazmino with a new device (seen below), which does not require a metal plate.

In his own words...

“Thank you to God and to Dr. Pazmino who used his hands. I ended up doing very well with the work that was performed with the surgery. This has turned out to be a very powerful miracle which has happened in my life. I am doing great and no longer have pain! Before I could not walk and now I can and have no pain whatsoever. I give thanks to God for that and to Dr. Pazmino for using his hands. Thank you.“
(Translated from Spanish)

With this new technology, offered by Dr. Pazmino at Spinecal, this Nuvasive Interlock cage can be placed into a degenerated segment of the back to restore disc height and alignment. In fact if you notice his radiographs Dr. Pazmino made him a little bit taller with the procedure. This patient is now one month out from his surgery performed by Dr. Pazmino at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, and as you can tell from his testimonial he has already noticed complete relief of his back and leg pain.

Range of Motion

Notice his postoperative range of motion. Despite having undergone a lumbar fusion he has maintained an excellent range of motion throughout rotation, flexion and extension. So in this case even though it was a fusion (which was required) Dr. Pazmino was able to perform the procedure in a minimally invasive manner not requiring large rods or screws.

By performing the entire procedure anteriorly through a 3cm incision (similar to a C-section approach), Dr. Pazmino was able to reconstruct this spine without a posterior incision, without moving the posterior lumbar musculature, or adding large rods.

Dr. Pablo Pazmino is able to place the screws anteriorly through the cage. In this way Dr. Pazmino is able to avoid the posterior rod and posterior incision all together.

This is the final construct as viewed from the front and from the side.

X-Rays After Surgery

These Nuvasvie brand spacers are an option and can be seen here. They are made of substance called PEEK (Poly Ether Ether Ketone) which feels like plastic. This material has properties which closely resemble our native bone. Dr. Pazmino places screws through the cages into the bone to hold them securely in position. Because these cages are made out of PEEK they are see through on Xrays and this allows Dr. Pazmino to closely follow the healing process which occurs inside the cages.

Bone and bmp is placed inside the cages to stimulate healing. There are several choices and material Dr. Pazmino can offer you to fill this cage. We can use local bone, transplanted bone from your hip or bone taken from a cadaver. This bone starts to heal within the cage and joins, or fuses, the bones above and below the spacer to each other. This process takes a year to complete. In three months this cage is filled with bone which is the consistency of cotton candy, in 6 months this bone is the consistency of Styrofoam, and by 12 months this bone inside the cage is strong like oak and normal bone. By 12 months the fusion process can be considered complete. In the meantime the screws through the cage keep the spacer in place. This is why Dr. Pazmino follows his patients at 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and one year.