Extended Medical Listings

Comprehensive, customized treatment combined with extensive experience results in positive outcomes for patients suffering, spinal cord and brain disorders

By Ellen Paris

Located in the Rancho Mirage Medical Center at Country Club Drive and Monterey Avenue, Desert Spine & Neurosurgical Institute's team of four highly trained and experienced medical staff provides treatment from diagnostic to surgical care. All four neurological surgeons physicians are board certified specialists utilizing state-of-the-art technology, providing patients the highest caliber of care.

INSTITUTE OF EXCELLENCE

A significant number of patients come to DSNI's through personal referrals — a statement to the depth and diversity of experience found there. With decades of combined neurological surgical experience, Dr. Shahin Etebar, Dr. Farhad Limonadi, Dr. Alfred Shen, and Dr. Ali Tahmouresie treat patients for spinal pain, spinal cord disorders, brain tumors, and vascular brain disorders using the latest techniques. "In many cases, when it comes to chronic spinal pain, DSNI is where people come who have exhausted all options," observes Dr. Etebar.

Dr. Etebar is a specialist in minimally invasive and complex spinal surgery with 14 years of experience. Dr. Shen also specializes in minimally invasive complex spinal surgery and joined the group in 2002. Dr. Limonadi is a specialist in complex brain tumors and diseases of the brain, as well as minimally invasive spine surgery and joined the group in 2005.

Dr. Tahmouresie is former chairman of the department of surgery and former president of the medical staff at Eisenhower Medical Center. At DSNI, he is responsible for non surgical medical management of brain, spinal cord disorders (sciatica, disc herniation, stenosis, osteoporosis, and spinal fractures) and leads the multidisciplinary spine conference. Dr. Ron Levey is an orthopedic surgeon with DSNI who also treats spinal disorders with non surgical measures. If surgery is necessary, Dr. Tahmouresie and Levey will refer patients to Drs. Etebar, Shen, and Limonadi for further comprehensive evaluation and treatment.

Determining a correct diagnosis for patients with chronic back pain includes indentifying the pain source. This is key in successful long term treatment for spinal and spinal cord disorders. A customized surgical approach when necessary results in positives outcomes for DSNI patients. This integrated treatment model from initial diagnosis to surgical aftercare and subsequent follow-up allows patients to receive all their care in one place.

In addition to its Rancho Mirage headquarters, DSNI has a Palm Springs office on the Desert Regional Medical Center Campus and is opening an East Valley office in La Quinta. Though all the physicians at DSNI are highly trained neurological surgeons, patients are not automatically issued a standard order for surgery. "When we can, we try to treat with other effective modalities prior to doing surgery," explains Dr. Shen.

INDIVIDUALIZED DIAGNOSIS & TREATMENT PLANS

A strong point of the practice is when taking care of neck and back pain, the physicians look for pain generators. "Spinal problems are hard to diagnose, since the spine itself is very complex," says Dr. Tahmouresie. There are many variables that may be causing pain from torn and ruptured discs to the muscles around the spine. The most important part in treating back and neck pain is to determine where the pain is coming from. One diagnostic test or scan doesn't make for a defi nitive diagnosis. "Treatment of simple and complex spine disorders starts with making a correct diagnosis, understanding the pathophysiology of the disease and biomechanics of the spine, employing appropriate sets of conservative measures, and finally, if needed, performing the correct operation using the latest technologies and techniques." explains Dr. Limonadi.

Once the primary pain source is determined, the odds are higher for successful treatment and good outcomes. "We'll see cases where the patient was treated with one particular type of injection or one type of therapy and they missed the boat on an effective diagnosis," observes Dr. Shen. "We design a treatment plan for each individual patient and don't employ a cookie-cutter approach."

All the physicians are trained in the latest techniques including minimally invasive surgery, and implantation of artifi cial discs, and utilizing image-guided computers during surgery. They also use the most advanced MRI equipment and Spect/CT scans for the clearest imaging available today. In complicated cases, two DSNI surgeons work together on one patient, offering the expertise of their combined hands-on operating room experience.

What sets DSNI apart is the comprehensive care offered for both brain and spinal disorders. Like major medical centers, individual cases are presented to DSNI's Spine Conference and Brain Tumor board. Cases are reviewed and treatment recommendations made. Patients thus receive three and four "second" opinions on their specifi c case. The Brain Tumor board is chaired by Dr. Limonadi who performs brain surgery for a variety of intracranial disorders including; tumors and vascular abnormalities of the brain. "Treatment for these are also multidisciplined, since as a team we work with expert radiologists, oncologists, and radiation oncologists. Every malignant brain tumor is presented before the Brain Tumor Boards," he explains.

The Spine Conference is bi-weekly and led by Dr. Tahmouresie. Here a patient's history, scans and fi lms are reviewed. Conservative treatment measures are discussed and consensus is reached whether surgery is necessary. "We recommend surgery only after we have exhausted conservative measures," "Dr. Shen observes. Cases presented to the Spine Conference are often ones that have been treated with conservative procedures, that have not have fi xed the problem. "With us, a patient doesn't have to shop around for other doctors, since they are getting at least three additional opinions from us," he says. When surgery is necessary, patients are operated on at either Desert Regional Medical Center or Eisenhower Medical Center.

An additional important discipline DSNI offers is its expertise in dealing with spine and spinal cord tumors. They receive many referrals for this. "Though often not malignant these are dangerous because they grow uncontrollably, putting mechanical pressure on the spinal cord, and can cause paralysis. The behavior is aggressive, and they must be removed," explains Dr. Etebar.

Nowhere else in the desert is such comprehensive multi-disciplinary care available for spine and brain disorders.

Desert Spine & Neurosurgical Institute
72780 Country Club Drive, Ste. A-104
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270
1-760-346-8058, FAX: 1-760-834-3780
www.Desert-Spine.com