Mr Syed Aftab Consultant Spinal Orthopaedic Surgeon - Part 1

In this episode of ‘Interview the Expert’ Joel speaks with Mr Syed Aftab Consultant Spinal Orthopaedic Surgeon and the Clinical Lead for Spinal Surgery at Barts Health NHS Trust, based at the Royal London Hospital. Mr Aftab continues to broaden his experience with visitations to international centres of excellence for spinal surgery (Antwerp Belgium, Bordeaux France, Neustadt Germany and Orlando USA) and he has been pioneering the iMAS technique in the UK, using micro access techniques developed by Dr Robert Masson at Neurospine Institute, Orlando, USA.

Chaptered topics include:

0:41 - Why spine surgery?
5:30 - A family member with constant back pain and how do you cope.
8:35 - Patient expectations against outcomes and the patient pathway. This isn’t a linear journey and post the intervention is just the start. It’s up to the patient and the people around them.
13:43 - The definitive solution being practical, tolerable and sustainable. Can the patient be happy post intervention?
15:19 - How do you deal with a psychologically pain traumatised patient? The surgeon patient relationship is for life.
18:58 - Is it the patient’s decision to proceed or not? It is still a shared responsibility.
20:08 - Would the patient benefit from psychological counseling pre surgery?
21:44 - Fusion patients don’t seem to understand the magnitude of the procedure. The spinal statistics don’t add up for all patients. Each patient is unique.
26:10 - Patients communicate they just need to know the facts. Your spine is different and you need to learn that.