Knicks’ Gallinari Has Successful Surgery
By HOWARD BECK
Published: April 7, 2009
The back surgery performed on Danilo Gallinari on Tuesday is
a low-risk procedure that should have no long-term consequences for the Knicks rookie, according to a New York-based spine expert.
The Knicks announced Tuesday morning that Gallinari had successful surgery, with a full recovery expected in six to eight weeks. During the procedure, known as a laminotomy, doctors shaved down a bony plate that was irritating a nearby nerve.
Although a back injury raises concerns for an elite athlete,
Gallinari should not have any chronic problems based on this surgery, said Dr. Sheeraz Qureshi, an expert in cervical spine and lumbar disc surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center. He has not examined or treated Gallinari.
“There’s no reason to think that he won’t be able to get back to full capacity, assuming that they’re doing the correct procedure,” said Qureshi, who is also the chief of spinal trauma at Elmhurst Hospital Center.
Gallinari, the sixth pick in the 2008 draft, is considered the Knicks’ most promising prospect in two decades, so his health is of paramount concern to the franchise. Dr. Patrick O’Leary of the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan performed the surgery.
Team officials believe Gallinari’s back problems stem from a bulging disc, presumably caused by a collision with Robert Traylor in a summer league game in July. Although the disc later receded, the pain persisted, causing Gallinari to miss training camp. He played briefly in the first two games of the season, then missed the next two months while undergoing a rigorous rehabilitation program.
Gallinari rejoined the rotation in mid-January, but he was never more than 60 to 70 percent healthy, by his own estimates. He decided to shut himself down in mid-March and began contemplating surgery.
According to Qureshi, the surgery Gallinari had has a 90 percent success rate. The question now, he said, is whether the injury and the surgery were as limited as the Knicks have announced. It is not uncommon for the team to withhold details about player injuries.
Whether Gallinari will have some chronic pain as a result of the back surgery “is sort of like flipping a coin,” Qureshi said. “However, in the age group that Danilo Gallinari is in, in his 20s, I would expect that he’s likely not going to have chronic symptoms, at least for the time of his playing career.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/sports/basketball/08knicks.html?_r=1&ref=sports