Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 23, 1993 TAG: 9307230020
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Everyone knows some old person who has had three surgeries . . . and still has pain," said Korsh. "It was a hit-or-miss proposition even up to 10 or 15 years ago."
But Korsh and Leipzig hope to alter those perceptions when they open the Virginia Spine Center Aug. 2 at Lewis-Gale Clinic.
The center, the first of its kind in Virginia, will be housed in a 6,000-square-foot space in the clinic's new addition.
"We're trying to get people to realize that there are definite new improvements," said Korsh, a New Jersey native who came to the clinic two years ago as the region's only orthopedic physician trained in the subspecialty of spine surgery.
"The results are dramatically different than they used to be."
The doctors said developments in high-tech imaging and instrumentation have dramatically changed the way back surgery is done. They also are experts at "revision surgery" - that is, going back in after earlier failed operations.
Korsh and Leipzig plan an "aggressive-conservative" management approach at the center.
That is, aggressive evaluation and diagnosis through a multidisciplinary approach using specialists in neurology, radiology, rheumatology, physical therapy, rehabilitation and psychology, then surgery only when absolutely necessary.
Leipzig suggested that only two to five of every 100 patients they see will require surgery.
Back ailments plague thousands of Americans; Leipzig estimated that 75 percent of Americans will face one major struggle with back pain in their lifetime.
The two doctors now see about 500 patients a month between them.
When Korsh came to Lewis-Gale two years ago to start a program in spinal surgery, he was lured by the prospect of open space and a slower pace of life.
"I thought this was a great place to live and raise a family," the 34-year-old physician said.
But as the only doctor trained in spine and scoliosis surgery, he was quickly overwhelmed and found himself working six-day weeks.
"People were going for three months without surgery," he said.
That's when he decided it was time to persuade Leipzig, whom he had met when both were residents at the Hospital for Special Surgery at Cornell University Medical Center, to move from Ohio to Virginia.
Leipzig, 35, was teaching surgery at Ohio State University. But when he left Columbus on a dreary, rainy February day in 1992 and landed in sunny Roanoke, he was hooked.
From that beginning, the two doctors began contemplating a comprehensive center devoted totally to back care.
"The trend is you have one door, you walk in and say, `My back hurts,' " said Korsh.
The pair said they hope eventually to provide seminars on back injury and treatment and to offer educational programs on how to avoid back pain.
by CNB