Answers for Back Pain Miami Neuroscience Institute’s Spine Center Offers Comprehensive Care

Pictured from left to right are: Jose Andres Restrepo, M.D., Christine Villoch, M.D., Ronald Tolchin, D.O., Justin Thottam, D.O., Melissa Guanche, M.D., and Caitlin Cicone, D.O.

Answers for back pain

Miami Neuroscience Institute’s Spine Center offers comprehensive care

You bend to grab a piece of paper off the floor and a bolt of pain shoots from your back down your leg. With back and neck pain affecting 80 percent of Americans at some point in their life, it’s an all too common occurrence. But how do you know if the cause of your pain is something serious? The experts at Miami Neuroscience Institute’s Spine Center, a part of Baptist Health, suggest a comprehensive evaluation to get to the root of your problem, alleviate your pain and prevent long-term issues.

Physiatrists — physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists — at the Center’s multiple locations deal with issues affecting the spinal cord, including problems with bones, joints, nerves, muscles and tendons. “We almost always isolate the issue, and with a proper diagnosis comes the proper treatment,” said Ronald Tolchin, D.O., medical director.

Causes of back and neck pain include degenerative disc disease, arthritis, skeletal abnormalities, spinal stenosis, herniated discs and more. Even screen time and texting can throw the neck out of alignment. And with the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors are seeing an increase in back problems due to too much sitting, not enough exercise, weight gain and working at makeshift home offices that lack chairs with lumbar support and arm rests. The Center works with everyone from athletes to the elderly, and handles extremely complex cases. For some patients, an initial assessment is followed by imaging studies — an MRI or CT scan, for example — that reveal problems such as a narrowing of the spinal column, a bone spur pressing on a nerve, bulging discs or arthritis. Nerve conduction studies are performed on-site.

The good news is that medical advances have made it possible for most patients to avoid surgery. “We have a whole armamentarium of noninvasive and holistic treatments available today,” Dr. Tolchin said. The Spine Center team may recommend stretching and physical therapy, anti-inflammatory and injectable medications, weight loss with an anti-inflammatory diet and safe exercise.

In addition to injections that are administered in the office, minimally invasive radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is performed at an outpatient location. RFA uses heat to disrupt the nerve tissue’s transmission of pain signals to the brain. Epidural and facet joint injections are also handled on an outpatient basis. Some 90 percent of back and neck problems are improved with these noninvasive approaches. For the 10 percent who require surgery, the Center’s team works closely with the neurosurgeons at Miami Neuroscience Institute.

“As a comprehensive spine center, not only do we look at you holistically and provide many services in one location,” Dr. Tolchin said, “but I can literally walk down the hall to any of my neurosurgical colleagues, pull up images and discuss a patient.”

Follow-up with back and neck pain patients is also important, according to Dr. Tolchin. “We don’t just treat you and say, ‘See you in five years.’ For some patients, the condition can be chronic. We’re a place where they can find salvation, and we will help them get through it.”

With locations throughout Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Spine Center appointments can be made by calling 786-596-3876 or visiting BaptistHealth.net/Spine.

GET BACK TO A LIFE WITHOUT PAIN.

At Miami Neuroscience Institute’s Spine Center, we want to help you get back to a life free of neck and back pain. Our expert physicians provide personalized care to treat pain and restore function, and utilize advanced techniques to treat chronic and acute conditions of the brain, spine and nervous system. Don’t let pain stop you from doing the things you love. Miami Neuroscience Institute’s Spine Center has your back.

Don’t delay the care you need. Measures are in place to ensure your safety.

New Clinical Trial Available Now for Patients with Advanced & Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer

Are you, or someone you know, being treated for Advanced or Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer with chemotherapy alone? Contact Dr. Robert Donoway at Atlas Oncology in Hollywood/Aventura, Florida.

Dr. Donoway is leading a new clinical trial using multi-modality therapy: combining Pancreatic Nanoknife Ablation with chemoimmuno-radiotherapy to treat advanced stage cancer patients.

With over 35 years of experience performing pancreatic surgery in South Florida, Dr. Donoway recognized that, because of its late diagnosis, up to 85% of the patients treated with surgery for pancreatic cancer already had metastatic disease. This fact limits the benefit a patient might get from the Whipple surgery.

Recent evidence shows that when even advanced disease is treated aggressively in an integrated approach, incorporating Nanoknife surgery with chemotherapy, long-term survivorship can be achieved, especially compared to chemotherapy alone.

Dr. Donoway has been a pioneer in the use of Pancreatic NanoKnife, especially for complex advanced cases. During the past decade, he remains the only surgical oncologist performing the procedure in South Florida. Patients from around the globe have traveled to benefit from this ground-breaking treatment, which is FDA approved. Dr. Donoway also treats other advanced cancers, such as liver, breast, and sarcomas, using Nanoknife surgery. A brief recovery means the patient can start chemotherapy and radiation that much sooner.

Dr. Donoway feels that “we are long overdue to revise our approach to treating pancreatic cancer. The treatment has remained largely unchanged for over 80 years and has just broken the 9-10% five-year survivorship barrier. Only thru thinking outside the box will we accomplish the positive. Otherwise, all we’re doing is confirming Einstein’s definition of Insanity.”

Dr. Donoway is participating in several clinical studies identifying the best chemotherapy and immunotherapies to be used along with IRE. Dr. Donoway states, “The results so far have been very encouraging and we have begun using it for other select cancers. Among his longest survivors are now patients over eight years without evidence of cancer recurrence. In the past, without IRE they would have been likely to have only lived a year and so this technique opens the whole new avenue for treating those eligible patients in a more targeted fashion.”

Dr. Donoway will be presenting the long-term results of his pancreatic treatment paradigm for advanced and metastatic disease later this fall at an International cancer society in Europe For more information about Dr. Donoway and the PancreaticIRE/NanoKnife Program and clinical trials call 305-682-1995 and visit www.AtlasOncology.com.

4000 Hollywood Boulevard • Suite 160 North • Hollywood, Florida 33021 Phone 954-986-6366, 305-682-1995 • Fax 954-986-4355 www.AtlasOncology.com

Robert B. Donoway, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.S.S.O.

Surgical Oncology & Pancreatic Surgical Oncology

Specializing in Cancer of the Pancreas, Liver, GI Tract, Sarcoma, Adrenal, Thyroid, Parathyroid, and Melanoma. Laparoscopic and Image Guided Cancer Surgery, IRE/NanoKnife for NonResectable Pancreatic and Liver Cancer.

Dr. Robert Donoway who is a board certified Fellowship-trained Surgical Oncologist, received his MD and Surgical training at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his fellowship in Surgical Oncology at Sloan-Kettering where he was the General Motors Cancer Research Fellow. He has taught on the faculty at Penn, Sloan-Kettering, University of Miami and Nova Southeastern. Dr. Donoway is the former Medical Director of the Memorial Cancer Institute and Chairman of the Cancer Committee for the Memorial Healthcare System as well as Chief of Surgery and Surgical Oncology at Memorial Regional in Hollywood, South Florida. Dr. Donoway served on the Board of the American Cancer Society & Gildas Club. He has also served as past President of the American Cancer Society Broward County Chapter. Dr. Donoway is active in the Society of Surgical Oncology and the American Pancreatic Association. His accomplishments include being the first Surgeon in Florida to perform Radio Frequency Ablation as well as Laparoscopic Liver Resection. Dr. Donoway is a recent recipient of the South Florida Health Award for the use of Micro-Endoscopy for the detection of early stage Breast Cancer. Dr. Donoway is the Medical Director of the Institute of Breast Cancer Prevention and has been repeatedly named to “TOP DOCTORS IN AMERICA” by Castle Connolly. Dr. Donoway is the ONLY surgeon in Florida performing specialized Pancreatic and Liver ablation therapy for non-resectable tumors. Dr. Donoway is the Former Chair of the Aventura Cancer Committee at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center. Dr. Donoway has privileges and operates at Aventura Hospital, Memorial Regional, Memorial South and Memorial West.

Robert B. Donoway, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.S.S.O.

Diplomate American Board of Surgery Diplomate, Society of Surgical Oncology Former Medical Director & Memorial Cancer Center Medical Director, Atlas Oncology: Institute for Pancreatic Cancer IRE/NanoKnife Ablation

Continuing to Care For Our Patients During the Coronavirus Crisis • Now Offering Telemedicine • Office Maintains Strict Disinfection Protocol • Dr. Donoway Operates on Patients Four Days a Week