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Neurosurgical Services Now Available at INTEGRIS Grove
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A Board-certified Neurosurgeon with more than 25 years experience, Dr. John Smithson, Jr. is now providing neurosurgical services to the Grand Lake area. Located in the Specialty Clinic, 13th and Broadway, just northwest of INTEGRIS Grove General Hospital, Smithson sees patients and performs surgeries in Grove on Friday mornings, staying through the weekend to provide continuity of care for his surgical patients. Likening Grove to his hometown of Dewey, Oklahoma, Smithson says, “Practicing here is not a hard thing for me to do, as my ‘roots’ are in a small community: And I very much enjoy the people.”
Smithson graduated from medical school at the University of Oklahoma and completed a general surgical internship followed by a neurological surgery residency at the University of Kentucky. After residency, he secured fellowship training in neurology and neuropathology at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, England. Smithson is presently an affiliated physician group member of the St. John Medical Center Neurosurgical Group in Tulsa.
Neurosurgery is the surgical discipline focused on treating stroke, central and peripheral nervous systems and spinal column diseases that are in need of surgical intervention. "Grove is very lucky to get a neurosurgeon, as there are only some 3,000 in the United States,” explains Randy Jobe, executive director, physician practice management, at INTEGRIS Grove.
Smithson’s primary areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Cerebrovascular disease—intracranial arterial aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations, extracranial artery atherosclerotic and stenosis-carotid endarterectomy surgery;
- Disorders of the cervical and lumbar spine—herniated disks and spinal stenosis; and
- Disorders of the peripheral nerves—carpal tunnel surgery and ulnar nerve transposition surgery.
If your primary care physician recommends that you see a neurosurgeon, ask your doctor for a referral to Dr. Smithson, Jr. They may call (918) 786-1991. | As Smithson’s first surgical patient in Grove, Randall Campbell, eighty-one years of age and a 27-year resident, had been suffering lower back pain since 1985. He’d had two previous back surgeries, and was maintaining a daily exercise regimen to treat his pain with very little relief. A recent visit to his local primary care physician had yielded more discouraging news, as x-ray and MRI revealed more deterioration in disks L2-L3 and L3-L4, and explained why 90% of his activities had become such miserable experiences.
Campbell’s physician recommended he see Dr. Smithson. “I moved to Grove to be taken care of in Grove,” explains Campbell, “so I was glad to have access to a neurosurgeon here.” And after seeing Smithson on July 3, undergoing an X-Stop surgical procedure on the 17th, and having the stitches removed on the 24th, Campbell is recovering pain-free, and has nothing but praise for Smithson. “I’ve never been to a doctor who was more thorough with his examination than Dr. Smithson,” says Campbell. “He explained the procedure and its pitfalls so clearly. I’d recommend him to anyone with back pain.”
X-Stop is a minimally invasive procedure designed to alleviate painful symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis, while avoiding the permanence of fusion, and involves an Interspinous Process Decompression System. A titanium implant is inserted into the back at the lumbar spine segment experiencing symptomatic narrowing of the boney canal—spinal stenosis—to help alleviate crowding of the nerve roots. Its design prevents the patient from bending too far backward at the treated segments, while still allowing movement—bending forward and rotating the lower back to a degree—thereby maintaining some motion in that area.
Dr. Smithson has performed some 35 X-Stop procedures, with uniformly very good results, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma: Campbell his first X-Stop receiver in Grove. “He presented with lumbar spinal stenosis,” Smithson says of Campbell, “and was the correct patient for this procedure. I enjoyed taking care of him as well as getting to know him as a person.” Smithson believes that it is important for patients to understand what procedure is being recommended and what to expect: “Yes, it takes time to explain everything,” he agrees, “but understanding will provide patients with a sense of peace.”
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INTEGRIS Grove General Hospital
1310 S. Main
Grove, OK 74344
(918) 786-2243INTEGRIS HealthLine
(888) 951-2277 |
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