Growing Bolder colleague and medical expert Dr. Robert Masson has just made history in Heidelberg, Germany. Dr. Masson, the founder of NeuroSpine Institute, spent the the week teaching at Ethianum, one of the most sophisticated, visionary and state-of-the-art medical clinics in the world. Ethianum combines multiple disciplines under one roof, making it one of the top medical destinations for patients seeking the most advanced medical care available.
Dr. Masson taught his minimally invasive iMAS procedure to some of Europe’s top surgeons and performed the first-ever complex spinal reconstruction using the technique outside of the U.S.
Dr. Masson was joined in the surgical suite by Dr. Jurgen Harms, an internationally renowned professor and one of true pioneers in advanced spinal surgery, who has conducted more than 10,000 spinal surgeries. Dr. Masson called the surgery,
“A great success and a memorable collaboration.”
iMAS is a technique designed, developed and refined by Dr. Masson that promises to transform the way lumbar spine surgery is performed. The minimally invasive technique allows even major reconstructions to be performed though a very small incision resulting in far less soft tissue damage and a much quicker recovery. In most cases, patients are walking 45 minutes after surgery and can go home the following day.
“When I first heard that he’s doing these large spinal reconstructions though an incision 2 centimeters in length right in the midline, I said ‘No, he’s not. It’s not possible,'” recalls Dr. Ian Dorward, a spine specialist from St. Louis.
“I was finally convinced to go down and see what he was capable of. I went in the operating room and he’s doing complete circumferential reconstructions of the spine with a very effective decompression and he’s doing it in one-fourth the time most surgeons would take and patients are popping up and leaving the hospital the next day. I thought either I can adopt this or quit fooling myself and go do something else because this is the next wave of lumbar spinal reconstruction.”
Dr. Dorward is now a member of an elite team of surgeons from all over the world that Dr. Masson is training in the iMAS technique; a team that promises to transform spinal surgery.
“It puts the spinal fusion into the same scope as the arthroscopic knee surgery. It really does,” says Dr. Jeffrey Larson, founder of Coeur d’Alene Spine and Brain in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
“I’ve reset my expectations about how big an incision has to be, how long a surgery is going to take, what kind of results I’m going to see and how long it’s going to take to achieve that result. It’s a new world,” adds Dr. Timothy Kenen, a spine specialist from Tualatin, Oregon.
Dr. Masson believes the iMAS team is among the best in the world consisting of highly skilled surgeons who want to make a difference for their patients.
“It’s not about a widget, it’s not about a procedure, it’s not about money. It’s about performance and it’s about propelling our own work in healthcare to a level we didn’t think was possible and we all inspire each other towards that end and it makes going to work really meaningful every day,” says Dr. Masson.
