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Longstreets new surgical device can ease chronic back pain
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Zach Philyaw, left, was the recipient of a new surgical device July 14 that treats chronic lower back pain without spinal fusion surgery. Betsy Grunch, right, neurosurgeon, performed the operation. - photo by RON BRIDGEMAN
The technique for artificial disks in the back have been around “for a really long time,” The Longstreet Clinic neurosurgeon Betsy Grunch explained, but a new device could lead to a rejuvenation. Zach Philyaw, a Gainesville firefighter and Clermont resident, is walking fine, if a bit gingerly, one week after surgery with a new artificial disk. Grunch and James Reeves, vascular surgeon with Northeast Georgia Physicians Group, operated on him Thursday, and he went home Friday.