LHSC performs first robotic assisted spinal surgery [Video]

Spine surgery may never be the same for people with chronic back pain and other physical ailments.

Earlier this year, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) became the first hospital in Canada to perform robot assisted direct lateral spine surgery.

The patient was London, Ont. resident Dave Meyn, now 57 years old.

He’s currently walking without pain, but it wasn’t that way not so long ago.

“I’d have occasion where I would even fall down, couldn’t feel my leg,” explained Meyn. “It eventually came to the point where I had to come into ER and get some immediate attention,” he said.

In February 2023, his chronic back pain led to sciatica in his right leg and extreme pain in his lower back.

About a year later, in February 2024, he received the robot-assisted surgery.

He was home within a couple days.

Dr. Victor Yang, neurosurgeon at LHSC speaks with patient Dave Men on April 25, 2024. Meyn received …