LHSC performs a Canadian first in robot-assisted direct lateral spine surgery
Spine surgery may never be the same for people with chronic back pain and other physical ailments.
Earlier this year, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) became the first hospital in Canada to perform robot assisted direct lateral spine surgery.
The patient was London, Ont. resident Dave Meyn, now 57 years old.
He’s currently walking without pain, but it wasn’t that way not so long ago.
“I’d have occasion where I would even fall down, couldn’t feel my leg,” explained Meyn. “It eventually came to the point where I had to come into ER and get some immediate attention,” he said.
In February 2023, his chronic back pain led to sciatica in his right leg and extreme pain in his lower back.
About a year later, in February 2024, he received the robot-assisted surgery.
He was home within a couple days.
Dr. Victor Yang, neurosurgeon at LHSC speaks with patient Dave Men on April 25, 2024. Meyn received robot-assisted direct lateral spine surgery in February 2024. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London)
“I basically went from not being able to walk not very far at all to having my life back,” he said.
There have only been six of these surgeries performed at LHSC so far, and Meyn’s was the first.
Not just the first at the southern Ontario hospital, but the first in Canada.
The surgery utilizes the Mazor X spinal robot. Dr. Victor Yang, neurosurgeon at LHSC performed the Canadian-first surgery.
He explained that it eliminates the need for a second surgery.
“Dave is not the first patient to receive the surgery in our hospital but he’s the first person to receive the surgery by doing it minimally invasively and going at it from two different directions without waking him up and without staging the surgery over two days, and without flipping him on the operating table. All of that reduces the time and the suffering he may have,” said Dr. Yang.
According to LHSC, chronic back pain affects nearly eight million Canadians, and it can be debilitating.
As for Meyn, he’s in recovery for a few more months, but he no longer takes simple tasks for granted.
“From putting on your socks to leaning over the sink to brush your teeth,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An apartment block collapses in a Russian border city after heavy shelling, injuring over a dozen
An apartment block partially collapsed in the Russian border city of Belgorod on Sunday, leaving at least 19 injured. Officials blamed Ukrainian shelling and said there were also likely deaths.
'Reimagining Mother's Day': Toronto woman creates Motherless Day event after losing mom
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
Millions of Canadians have been exposed to potentially toxic chemicals, and they're not going anywhere
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
Flash floods and cold lava flow hit Indonesia's Sumatra island. At least 37 people were killed
Heavy rains and torrents of cold lava and mud flowing down a volcano's slopes on Indonesia’s Sumatra island triggered flash floods that killed at least 37 people and more than a dozen others were missing, officials said Sunday.
Swiss fans get ready to welcome Eurovision winner Nemo back home
Swiss Eurovision fans were getting ready Sunday to give a hero's welcome to singer Nemo, who won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest with "The Code," an operatic pop-rap ode to the singer’s journey toward embracing a nongender identity.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
'It was violent': Police tear down U of A pro-Palestinian encampment Saturday morning
Multiple people at the protest camp torn down at the University of Alberta campus Saturday say police's actions against protesters were "violent" and "disproportionate."
Michael Cohen: A challenging star witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial
He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors' biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president's hush money trial.