About The Bonati Spine Institute: History

Where laser spine surgery began.

In 1981, Alfred O. Bonati, M.D. founded The Gulf Coast Orthopaedic Center for Special Surgery of Joint Disease and performed arthroscopic surgery on the hips, knees, shoulders and wrists. Dr. Bonati was an advocate of arthroscopic surgery because the scarring was minimal, it shortened the patient’s recovery time, and could be performed on an outpatient basis using only local anesthesia. In 1986, Dr. Bonati turned his focus on arthroscopic surgery to correct problems in the spine and began performing percutaneous discectomies. During this time, he developed advanced arthroscopic techniques and instruments for spine surgery and obtained patents from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for his methods and instruments, including the use of a laser on the spine. He was also the first to obtain FDA approval for the use of the Holmium YAG laser on the spine. These methods and instruments are The Bonati Procedures.

Dr. Bonati quickly gained worldwide recognition as a pioneer in the research and development of advanced arthroscopic techniques in spine surgery and has made multiple presentations for surgeons and scientists throughout the world.

This dedication to innovation that is in the best interest of the patient continues on. In 2005, he obtained a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on his method and instruments for removing orthopaedic hardware. In 2006, he obtained a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for additional surgical instruments for the use in removing orthopaedic hardware.

The Bonati Procedures are performed only at The Bonati Spine Institute and have been performed successfully over 35,000 times.