In 2007, approximately 27 million U.S. adults reported having back problems, while 19 million adults reported receiving treatment for back problems at a cost of $30.3 billion dollars, according to a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2010 report. That’s a lot of people in a lot of pain.
Now there’s hope through the emerging Dr. Anthony T. & Eileen Yeung Center for Endoscopic Spine Surgery, targeted for UNM’s new Outpatient Surgery and Imaging Service facility.
UNM – Nation’s First Academic Health Center with the Capability
Managed by the Center for Spinal Health in the Department of Neurosurgery, the Endoscopic Spine Center (ESC) will use the $2.5-million gift to build a multidisciplinary program focused on the diagnosis and treatement of a wide spectrum of painful conditions of the lumbar spine. Neurosurgeons, orthopaedic spine surgeons, pain management physicians, as well as rehabilitation physicians and physical therapists will make up the team.
Yeung’s Mission Both Professional and Personal
A board-certified orthopaedic spine surgeon and internationally renowned endoscopic spine surgeon, Yeung specializes in diagnosing and treating the causes of back pain and sciatica by identifying the painful patho-anatomy in the lumbar spine.
“I recognized the need for more effective, less invasive spine surgery when my mother was disabled following surgery for her central disc herniation that injured her nerve and destabilized her spine,” reveals Yeung, a 1970 UNM SOM graduate.
