A Duluthian man went from barely able to walk to now moving around pain free thanks to this new innovative medical technology. SynerFuse is a company made of specialists from the University of Minnesota and the Fairview Health system. They are working towards better and more regular outcomes with spine surgeries.

A few years ago, Jason Fleck injured his back. He recounted about not being able to get up to play with his grandchildren at the age of 42.
“I had hurt my back, and I could hardly walk. I mean, I could barely get out of bed. You know, I had to use a walker to get around.”

Jason’s Journey with SynerFuse

In 2023, Jason found a medical study being conducted in the Twin Cities. With back pain affecting 1 in 6 people, spine surgeries are commonplace. And with multiple previous back surgeries, Jason was hesitant but as he lost his lifelong job in construction the study seemed worth it.

“I had gotten introduced to SynerFuse and got a chance to try their to do the pilot study that they had going on. And I am so happy I had it done. I mean, this has changed my quality of life. You know, I walked around. Most 89-year-olds walk ed around better than me.”

Dr. Rohan Lall, a neurosurgeon at M Health Fairview, helped create and run this new clinical trial. He helped perform the surgery and expanded on the new technology they developed.

“Synerfuse is the first company that has explored and connected both conventional spine surgery with the screws and rods and decompression to actually physically free the nerves with the placement of nerve stimulators onto the nerve roots themselves with a battery that is controlled basically by the patient’s phone. And so, what we’re doing is we’re correcting both the mechanical issues in the spine and the chronic nerve injury via the nerve stimulator.”

Thanks to the ability to adjust the stimulators from an app on his phone, Jason was able to make a speedy recovery. He got his surgery in June 2023, and then by December of that same year he was doing construction again. Now he goes about his days feeling well with zero spinal pain. All while able to control if he does start to feel any.

Less Need to Rely on Opioids

SynerFuse not only helped regulate the pain, but also allowed Jason not to become dependent on opioids. This control causing him not to need any only six months post-surgery. Dr. Rohan Lall gave his perspective with opioids and this new technology.

“Unfortunately, as they’re recovering from spine surgery, it’s very painful surgery in terms of the tissues themselves, and what that does is, you know, unfortunately, the one of our main tools sometimes for treating patients in very severe pain can be opioids,”

“These patients’ recoveries from surgeries can have sort of ups and downs. And when they’re sort of having a bad week, unfortunately, a lot of times, opioids may be one of the only real tools that we have to sort of control the pain.”

“One of the really exciting things that we’ve seen in our clinical trial is that if a patient is having a nerve that’s acting up, or a flare of severe pain, with that, instead of having to prescribe them additional opioids. What we do is we just adjust the settings on the stimulator to control the pain, and it avoids putting them in this cycle of addiction.”

The Path Ahead

The first surgery SynerFuse did was in 2021. Now have 15 successful surgeries finishing their initial quality of care study for FDA approval. They now look towards bringing the technology to the next level of approval in hopes of helping many more. SynerFuse is going to a national trial where we will have approximately 15 to 20 sites all over the country. With approximately 150 or so patients, they will be able to look at the outcomes on a much broader scale.

As Jason continues to do his construction job and play with his grandchildren. He remains pain free and ever so grateful for the surgery, SynerFuse, and Dr. Rohan Lall’s work. When asked about what he would say to others who suffer from chronic back pain, he had this to say.

“I’d honestly suggest them to check into it and get a hold of SynerFuse and try to become part of the program because it’s really changed my life drastically for the better. My back feels like it’s 16 again.”

To learn more about SynerFuse, check out their website. You can also reach out to Dr. Rohan Lall’s clinic, as well as Dr. Michael Clark at the University of Minnesota. To learn more about the trial and about the technology itself.