Surgery on the mind

Sometimes, when current methods are inadequate, you’ve just got to come up with something new.

While that attitude may work in construction or cattle drives, Dr. John Dorman is also taking it to neurosurgery.

Dorman, 38, operates on the brain, spinal cord and nerves, as one of a select number of neurosurgeons in the area. He came to Odessa in 2004.

Looking for a way to perform surgery on the brain without having to open a huge flap in the head, Dorman developed a tube that goes into the brain, allowing the surgeon to operate in a more concentrated area.

He’s had the as-yet-unnamed tool patented.

“It’s not necessarily easier, but it’s safer,” he said of the special dilator. “There’s less trauma to the brain.”

Betty Roy of Midland said Dorman used the new technique to help her. She suffered from a lesion of her cervical spine.

“When they took X-rays, it looked like it was moth eaten,” she said.

The lesion caused excruciating pain, Roy said.

“Going to worship service and listening to the pastor, I couldn’t sit in any one location for very long because it hurt,” she said.

After initially being sent to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, it was determined Roy didn’t have cancer. After that, doctors there unsuccessfully tried a biopsy, entering through the back of the neck.

So Roy came back to Odessa. On May 21, Dorman tried a new procedure in which he put cement in the bone area, reinforced it and sealed it off.

After a couple days of recovery, Roy said the pain, which she had been feeling for a year, was completely gone.

“I applaud all that he’s done and how much he really helped me,” she said. “I would really recommend him to anybody.”

Dorman said he likes the variety his field offers. He treats people with back and neck pain, as well as those with trauma and spinal cord injuries.

“Some days I’m doing spine surgery. Some days I’m taking out a brain tumor,” he said. “It’s a very challenging job. I rarely have a day when I’m tired of it.”