U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa Offers New Spinal Procedure for Pain Relief
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CAMP FOSTER, Japan — Providing health care to the nearly 55,000-person beneficiary population and the 188,768-person Western Pacific-eligible referral population in Okinawa presents unique challenges.
One challenge for an overseas medical treatment facility (MTF) is staffing medical specialties that may not see the same workload or complexity of cases as stateside MTFs.
The Defense Health Agency (DHA) and Navy Medicine have devised a creative solution by rotating neurosurgeons at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa. Each provider spends about four months in Okinawa, providing critical, life-saving care.
Dr. Michael Lawless, a visiting neurosurgeon from Naval Medical Center San Diego, decided to proactively seek out cases. Because Okinawa has fewer causes of major trauma, such as high-speed roads and firearms, the daily caseload can be light. Lawless brought relief to many patients who were hesitant about undergoing traditional spinal surgery.
Spinal surgeries can have varied results, sometimes leading to more pain, long recovery times, and severe side effects. Lawless introduced another option for patients: a minimally invasive endoscopic procedure. This is becoming a routine procedure that relieves pinched-nerve sciatica resulting from spinal decompression.
The endoscope allows the physician to be more precise than in a more invasive open surgery. The department already has an endoscope, so there is little to no extra cost. The surgery also provided additional training for the hospital corpsman assigned to neurosurgery. HM3 Alyssa Clayton was able to scrub in and assist Dr. Lawless during the procedure.
The minimally invasive procedure allows rotating neurosurgeons to maintain a steady workload of two to three cases a week. It provides relief for patients suffering from sciatic nerve pain and allows for a dramatically quick recovery. One patient rated their pain as zero out of 10 while in the recovery room. This approach enables people to return to work much faster and keeps costs down by avoiding off-island medical evacuations.
While at the hospital, Lawless performed the first endoscopic laminectomy on the island. A laminectomy is a surgical procedure that removes a portion of the bony roof of the spine, called the lamina, to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves. The patient had an excellent result with immediate relief of leg pain and did not require any narcotic pain medication.
This surgery has the same benefits as an endoscopic microdiscectomy: smaller incisions, less trauma to muscle and soft tissues resulting in less postoperative pain, and fewer complications and infections. This allows the procedure to be performed in an outpatient setting so patients can go home the same day.
According to a recent randomized controlled study in the British Medical Journal, endoscopic spine surgery was more cost-effective and provided better pain relief than traditional open surgery for sciatica, even one year after surgery. The study noted that the endoscopic approach resulted in savings of over $3,000 in direct health care costs and indirect lost productivity costs at one year after surgery.
A recent survey of elite athletes in the journal World Neurosurgery found an 81 percent return-to-play rate at 5.2 to 8.7 months after traditional open and tubular minimally invasive surgery. In contrast, endoscopic spine surgery produced an average 88 percent return-to-play rate at three months.
Creative staffing and innovative thinking allow patients at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa to benefit from a less invasive surgery that relieves their pain, while allowing visiting doctors to maintain their surgical skills. It is a win for all involved and another way the people who make up the Defense Health Agency maintain a medically ready force by being a ready medical force.
The U.S. Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Okinawa (USNMRTCO) supports the Defense Health Agency’s U.S. Naval Hospital, Okinawa (USNHO) as the largest OCONUS Navy Medicine medical treatment facility and stands at the ready to respond to contingency operations to support the INDOPACOM region. It is a critical regional asset for direct care delivery, regional referrals, and medical contingency operations. The staff of USNHO understands their vital role as pre-positioned, forward-deployed naval forces within the first island chain, aligned and in support of the joint military commands and operations.
Trey Savitz, Public Affairs Officer
U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa, Japan
Comm: 011-81-971-7024
DSN: (315) 646-7024
isaac.s.savitz.civ@health.mil
Date Taken:
12.17.2025
Date Posted:
12.17.2025 01:06
Story ID:
554510
Location:
OKINAWA, JP
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