Spine Surgery Near Me: What Actually Matters When You’re Choosing a Naples Neurosurgeon

It’s almost always the same story. Someone has been in pain for weeks, sometimes years. They’ve tried physical therapy, maybe a round of injections, and at 11 p.m., unable to sleep because their back or neck won’t let them lie flat, they type “spine surgery near me” into their phone.

I want to tell you something before you scroll through another list of directory listings: proximity is the least important thing on that page. What actually determines whether you get the right diagnosis, the right treatment plan, and a surgery you don’t regret later is who is behind the practice you choose — their training, how they think about surgery versus non-surgical care, and whether they’ve actually solved the specific problem you have.

I’m Dr. Mark Frenkel, a board-certified neurosurgeon and spine surgeon practicing inside Physicians Regional Medical Center in Naples, Florida. In this post, I’ll walk you through what I think you should actually be screening for when you search for spine surgery near you, what makes my practice different, and how to know whether you’re a candidate for CemLIF™, the rod-less, screw-less fusion technique I developed myself.

What “Spine Surgery Near Me” Should Actually Screen For

A local search for spine surgery near me pulls up directories, hospital physician-finder pages, and marketing pages — most of which are optimized to rank, not necessarily to represent the surgeon who will actually be in the room with you. That’s not a conspiracy; it’s just how healthcare marketing works. It means the burden is on you to filter.

Here’s what I’d screen for if I were the one searching:

• Is this person fellowship-trained specifically in spine, or is spine one of several things they do?
• Are they a neurosurgeon or an orthopedic spine surgeon, and do you understand the difference? (Both can be excellent — the training paths just diverge, and it matters for certain conditions, especially anything involving the spinal cord or nerve compression at the base of the skull.)
• Do they operate on the specific condition you have on a regular basis, or is it an occasional case for them?
• What happens when you call? Are you talking to a scheduler reading from a script, or does the practice actually review your imaging before booking you for anything?
• Will the surgeon who consults with you be the one operating on you?

In my practice, every consultation includes an actual review of your imaging by me — not a treatment plan generated before I’ve even opened your scans. If you’re local to Naples or Southwest Florida, that’s an in-person process from your first visit through your last follow-up. You can read more about my background on my About page. If a “near me” search doesn’t turn up a straight answer to those five questions, that’s useful information too — it tells you to keep looking.

My Training, By the Numbers

Credentials without context are just letters after a name, so let me give you the context. I went to medical school at Case Western Reserve University, affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic, where I graduated with Honors and Distinction in Research — my research was on anterior cervical surgery, conducted at The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.

From there I spent seven years in neurosurgery residency at Wake Forest University, training under Dr. Charles Branch, one of the pioneering figures in modern spinal surgery, alongside mentors trained at Harvard and Johns Hopkins. I was appointed Chief Resident for two consecutive years, which is a rare distinction in a seven-year program. I finished residency with one of the highest neurosurgery board scores in the country, and in 2018 I won the CNS SANS Challenge, the annual national neurosurgical knowledge tournament.

None of that guarantees a particular outcome for any individual patient — I want to be upfront about that. But it’s the difference between a surgeon who trained broadly across brain and spine pathology for the better part of a decade, and a surgeon whose spine experience came from a shorter, narrower path. When you’re evaluating “spine surgeon near me” results, ask where they trained and for how long. It’s a fair question, and a good surgeon will answer it without hesitation.

The Problem With How Most “Near Me” Searches End Up

I’m not going to pretend every case needs six months of physical therapy before anyone touches a scalpel — some don’t, particularly with progressive neurological deficits or unstable fractures. But in my experience with thousands of cases, a large share of patients who are told they “need” surgery immediately actually have time to try — or finish trying — conservative options first: targeted physical therapy, activity modification, and in select cases, diagnostic or therapeutic injections.

I tell my patients the truth, even when it’s not what they came in hoping to hear. Sometimes that means telling someone in significant pain that we should wait and watch rather than operate. That’s not the fastest path to a surgical case on my schedule, but it’s the right one. If a “spine surgery near me” search turns up a practice that recommends surgery on your first visit without a clear clinical rationale, that’s worth a second opinion — mine or anyone else’s.

Why I Developed CemLIF™ — And When It’s the Right Fit

Traditional lumbar fusion typically uses rods and screws to stabilize the spine while bone heals across the disc space. It works, and it’s still the right choice for a lot of patients. But in my own practice, I kept seeing the same trade-off: hardware that does its job mechanically, at the cost of a larger incision, more soft-tissue disruption, and a longer recovery arc for many patients.

That’s what led me to develop CemLIF™ — a rod-less, screw-less lumbar fusion technique. Instead of hardware, I stabilize the disc space using injected surgical-grade bone cement, creating a solid, load-bearing construct that serves the same stabilizing function as rods and screws — without the large incision and extensive muscle dissection they typically require. I’m also the first surgeon to bring augmented reality into the OR for intraoperative neuro-navigation, which I developed myself to improve precision during these and other spinal procedures.

Who CemLIF™ Actually Fits

I want to be honest about this, because overselling a new technique is exactly what I criticize in other parts of this industry: CemLIF™ is currently used for lumbar fusion, not every spinal condition, and not every patient is a candidate. In my own practice, many CemLIF™ patients have returned to normal activity sooner than what’s typically described for traditional instrumented fusion — but “typical” and “guaranteed” are different words, and your candidacy depends on your specific anatomy, prior surgeries, and overall health. That’s a conversation for a consultation, not a blog post.

If you’re evaluating lumbar interbody fusion options — including traditional ALIF and LLIF/XLIF approaches alongside CemLIF™, that comparison should happen in person, with your imaging in front of both of us.

Conditions and Procedures I Treat in Naples

Local patients searching for a spine surgeon near me are usually dealing with one of a fairly consistent set of conditions. Here’s what I see and treat regularly at my Naples practice:

Cervical (Neck)

• Cervical stenosis and cervical myelopathy
• Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF)
• Anterior cervical disc arthroplasty (ACDA) for motion-preserving cases

Lumbar (Lower Back)

• Disc herniation and spondylolisthesis
• Lumbar stenosis and spinal instability
• METRx minimally invasive lumbar discectomy
• Endoscopic medial branch transection
• TOPS™ Posterior Arthroplasty System — a non-fusion motion-preservation alternative
• CemLIF™ and traditional instrumented fusion

Complex & Cranial

• Scoliosis and complex spinal deformity correction
• Spinal tumors and revision spinal surgery
• Brain tumors, pituitary gland tumors, subdural hematomas, and trigeminal neuralgia (microvascular decompression)

You can browse the complete lists on my Conditions and Procedures pages. If you don’t see your specific diagnosis listed, that doesn’t mean I don’t treat it — call the office and ask directly.

Why Other Surgeons Send Me Their Hardest Cases

One thing that doesn’t show up in a “spine surgery near me” search: I regularly receive referrals from other spine surgeons — orthopedic and neurosurgical — for their most complex revision and deformity cases. That’s not something I say to sound impressive; it’s a practical signal worth knowing about, because surgeons refer to colleagues they trust with cases where the anatomy is already complicated by prior hardware, scar tissue, or a deformity that didn’t respond to a first surgery.

Complex and revision spine surgery is a different skill set than a first-time, straightforward fusion. It requires comfort with distorted anatomy, prior imaging that doesn’t match what you find intraoperatively, and — in my case — the augmented reality navigation system I built specifically to improve precision in exactly these situations. If you’ve already had one spine surgery and it didn’t resolve your symptoms, that referral pattern is part of why patients travel to see me for a second opinion, sometimes from well outside Southwest Florida.

What Actually Happens When You Call My Office

For local patients, the process is straightforward: you call, we schedule a consultation, and I personally review your imaging with you at that visit. My PA, Emily Ellis, works alongside me through your entire treatment and recovery — patients consistently tell me she’s one of the reasons their experience felt supported rather than transactional.

For patients coming from outside Southwest Florida or internationally, we run a separate Concierge Spinal Surgery Program. That includes telehealth consultation options before you travel, a dedicated team that coordinates your imaging, pre-surgical clearances, and follow-up scheduling, direct concierge access during business hours, and help arranging travel and accommodations in Naples. I personally contact family after surgery — that’s not delegated to staff.

Either way, insurance verification and upfront cost discussions happen before you’re committed to anything. If you’re weighing whether to travel for a second opinion versus finding someone closer to home, that’s a conversation worth having directly — reach out and ask.

What the Research Actually Says

It’s worth grounding this in data rather than just clinical opinion. Researchers at Weill Cornell have estimated that roughly 900,000 spine procedures performed in the U.S. each year could be enhanced by minimally invasive technique — yet only a fraction are currently approached that way, which tells you the field is still catching up to where the evidence points (Bydon et al., Seminars in Spine Surgery).

A 2025 comparative analysis in the Journal of Spine Research and Surgery found that minimally invasive fusion is associated with less blood loss, shorter hospital stays, and lower infection rates than traditional open fusion, with both approaches achieving comparable long-term fusion rates and pain relief (Saber et al., 2025). That’s the underlying research trend CemLIF™ was built to extend: less soft-tissue disruption without sacrificing the structural goal of fusion.

I was profiled by WINK News on this exact shift when CemLIF™ started gaining traction locally. I’d encourage you to read it with the same skepticism I’d want you to apply to any surgeon’s claims — including mine.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line on Spine Surgery Near Me

A “spine surgery near me” search is a starting point, not a decision. What actually matters is training, honesty about whether you need surgery at all, and a surgeon who’s genuinely equipped to handle your specific condition — including if it turns out to be more complex than expected. That’s the standard I hold my own practice to, whether you’re driving in from across Naples or flying in from across the country.

If you’re ready for a real answer about what’s going on with your spine, call my Naples office at (239) 649-1662 or book directly at frenkelmd.com/contact. If you’re traveling from out of state or internationally, ask about our Concierge Spinal Surgery Program — we handle the logistics so you can focus on getting better.

The information in this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Surgical decisions are made on an individualized basis following a thorough consultation. Results may vary. Always consult a qualified physician before pursuing any surgical or medical treatment.

About Dr. Mark Frenkel MD

Dr. Mark B. Frenkel, MD, MA, FAANS, FCNS is a board-certified neurosurgeon and spine surgeon based in Naples, Florida. He is the inventor of the CemLIF™ rod-less, screw-less lumbar fusion technique, a Castle Connolly Top Doctor (2024–2026), and a Healthgrades 99th Percentile physician. Dr. Frenkel has published extensively in peer-reviewed neurosurgical journals and is a textbook author for Elsevier and Springer Science. Learn more at frenkelmd.com/about.