Jason was an active high school student athlete who was working out in the school gym one afternoon when the weight machine fell over on top of him. He was brought to the CHS NorthEast Emergency Department where x-rays revealed a lumbar spinal fracture. The Neurosurgery team was consulted for evaluation. Given the unstable nature of the fracture the decision was made to take Jason to the Operating Room to stabilize his fracture. Utilizing state-of-the-art surgical technologies and minimally invasive surgical techniques, his fracture was able to be reduced and stabilized using only 4 less than 1 cm incisions. Jason was sent home the following morning and was back at school the following week. His fracture completely healed within just a few months. His screws and rods were removed through the same 1 cm incisions in a procedure lasting less than 30 minutes and allowing him to return home the very same day. Our Neurosurgeons at CHS NorthEast are regularly performing complex and minimally invasive surgical procedures for patients like Jason using advanced 3D intra-operative imaging equipment, stereotactic neuro-navigation, and robotic technologies.
A special thank you to Dr. Christopher Holland, a neurosurgeon at Carolina Neurosurgery and Spine Associates for sharing Jason’s story with us. Dr. Holland completed his residency in neurological surgery at Emory University in Atlanta and a fellowship in complex and minimally invasive spine surgery at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Dr. Holland specializes in degenerative spinal conditions, spinal instability, spinal deformity, spinal primary and metastatic tumors, spinal trauma, and artificial disc replacement. Dr. Holland has been operating at CHS NorthEast since 2016.
