Samuel Cerami, 53, was willing to try anything after four years of neck pain and numbness in his limbs that made life unbearable.
His condition, which crushed his spine, made it almost impossible for him to walk and he could barely get out of bed.
“Being afraid to climb five stairs to get to the bathroom is no way to live. I had no strength or enthusiasm to do anything,” she told DailyMail.com.
The former planning engineer from Staten Island, New York, suffered from severe spinal stenosis, which is when nerves are crushed by a narrowing of the bones in the spine.
The constant pain affected his relationship with his wife and two daughters, making him irritable and unpleasant at times. It also prevented him from playing his beloved bass.
MISERABLE: Samuel Cerami before the pioneering operation to fix his crushing spinal condition
BACK TO BASS-ics: After resigning himself to the idea of never playing again, he’s back to making music and doing what he loves.
He was planning to undergo his fourth surgery last month to relieve some of the pressure on his spine.
The last three operations had been unsuccessful and he had come to the conclusion that he might spend the rest of his life in pain.
But everything changed when she received a life-changing call from her neurosurgeon, Dr. Ronit Gilad of Staten Island University Hospital.
Dr. Gilad was experimenting with a new headset that could improve the accuracy and efficiency of spinal procedures.
The headsets allow surgeons to see the real world but with virtual screens superimposed in front of them displaying vital information, known as augmented reality.
Dr. Gilad had been treating Mr. Cerami since 2020, so she thought of him when she discovered he was bringing this technology into the operating room.
Mr Cerami said: “I wasn’t really nervous when he called me. I was totally sure of what I was going to do.”
The headset gave Dr. Gilad a full view of Mr. Cerami’s spine without having to look at a monitor, offering “unprecedented precision and control during a spinal procedure,” according to SIUH.
Dr. Gilad made two “tiny” incisions in his lower back. She used the headset to guide him through his spine and placed an expandable cage between the discs to correct their curvature. She inserted screws and rods to stabilize him.
This is less invasive than the traditional operation, which requires a larger incision.
She explained: ‘This headset has a screen, it’s like a virtual reality video game that recreates a three-dimensional model of the spine and merges with our GPS system that we have in the operating room.
“It’s a total game changer.”
The headset allows surgeons to see the real world but with virtual screens superimposed in front of them displaying vital information, known as augmented reality.
Dr. Gilad described the original method: “You had to open[the back]and visualize the spine in front of you.”
By three weeks into his recovery, Mr. Cerami could spend five hours running errands when before the procedure he could barely stand for five minutes.
You could spend time comfortably with your family and friends and enjoy your favorite hobbies again.
Cerami said: “It was like a miracle. This is definitely the future of medicine.”
Cerami happily said he was able to play his bass for hours at a time about a month after surgery, the first time in four years he had been able to do so.
Cerami said: ‘For me, it was so minimally invasive that I would be more nervous about having my tooth pulled.
‘I couldn’t sleep that night (after surgery), I think I was so excited because I wasn’t in pain anymore. I didn’t feel the numbness.
“I’ve never felt this good in three years. I’m sure what they used was definitely a big part of it.”
Cerami was expected to remain in the hospital for up to three days, but was sent home the next day.
And continues to recover rapidly.
Mr. Cerami and Dr. Gilad after the “miraculous” operation
Spinal stenosis and other degenerative diseases are common in older patients and the risk of developing them increases with age.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, about 95 percent of Americans age 50 and older develop these types of conditions.
But only about 250,000 to 500,000 Americans specifically suffer from spinal stenosis. Unlike Mr. Cerami, people can have spinal stenosis without showing symptoms.
Aging, arthritis and previous injuries can all cause spinal stenosis. Cerami said he was born with the condition but didn’t experience symptoms until four years ago.
According to the Mayo Clinic, only 9 percent of spinal stenosis cases are genetic.
Mr. Cerami’s first spinal surgery was the fusion of a titanium plate to his spine through the front of his neck in 2020. He had to wear a neck brace for six weeks after the procedure.
But this operation did not decompress his spine enough to relieve the pain. Dr. Gilad operated on him a second time about two months later, this time inserting rods into the back of his neck to give his spine more support.
Mr. Cerami said: “My entire neck is reconstructed with titanium.”
He thought he was on the mend. Mr Cerami did some physical therapy, but soon realised that his lower back was in a lot of pain. He had no choice but to undergo another operation.
The constant pain put a strain on his relationship with his wife and two daughters, making him irritable and unpleasant at times.
The third spinal operation in 2023, through the lumbar area, did not alleviate Mr. Cerami’s agony at all.
He struggled for another year until he scheduled another routine surgery to decompress his nerves and correct the shape of his spine in July.
But plans changed when Dr. Gilad said Cerami was a candidate for the procedure using the new device.
The augmented reality device, made by Augmedics and called the Xvision Spine System, was introduced to hospitals in 2019, according to SIUH.
The first hospital to use the Xvision spine system was Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland in 2020.
SIUH was the second hospital in New York to use the device. It was introduced at the hospital about a month before Mr. Cerami’s surgery.
Dr. Gilad practiced the operation with the headset on spinal models with fake skin and tissue before putting her skills to the test on Cerami.
Dr. Gilad believes it will revolutionize spinal surgeries because “it is definitely more precise” than traditional methods because the surgeon never has to redirect his gaze during the operation.
Gilad summed up the benefits of using Xvision technology more frequently: “It will reduce operative time.
‘It will reduce incision size, improve precision, shorten the length of the patient’s hospital stay and ultimately improve patient outcomes and satisfaction.’
The Xvision Spine System is FDA cleared for open and minimally invasive surgeries like Cerami according to SIUH.
So far, the device has been used to treat more than 6,500 patients in 24 states.