Endoscopic Spine Care · Marin County

Born in Asia. Pioneered in Europe.

Refined in Marin.

Endoscopic spine surgery was developed in Asia, adopted across Europe, and is now available right here on the 101 corridor — because Dr. Katsuura brought it to Marin County first. He trained with the surgeons who pioneered the technique and returned to the North Bay to build the region's most experienced endoscopic spine practice. The result: patients with herniated discs, stenosis, and chronic spine pain who once faced a drive out of the Bay Area — or worse, open surgery — now have a better option five minutes off the freeway. Less cutting. Less recovery. More time doing what Marin and Northern California were made for.

Learn About Endoscopic Surgery
Frequently Asked Questions

The Science

What is Endoscopic Spine Surgery?

Endoscopic spine surgery is a minimally invasive technique that uses a small camera and surgical instruments inserted through an incision smaller than a centimeter to treat disc herniations, stenosis, and nerve compression — without cutting through muscle or requiring general anesthesia. Unlike traditional open surgery, the entire procedure is performed under high-definition visualization through a single port, allowing patients to go home the same day and return to normal activity in a fraction of the time.

How Endoscopic Surgery Works

1. A Tiny Opening We make a single incision smaller than a fingernail — you'll barely notice it once it heals.

2. We Find the Problem A narrow tube is gently guided to the exact source of your pain using live imaging, slipping between your muscles rather than cutting through them.

3. We See Everything A tiny high-definition camera is passed through the tube, giving your surgeon a crystal-clear, magnified view of exactly what's causing your pain — disc, nerve, bone spur — all on a monitor in real time.

4. We Fix It Using micro-instruments no bigger than a pen tip, Dr. Katsuura precisely removes whatever is pressing on your nerve — the herniated disc, the bone spur, the thickened tissue — without disturbing anything around it.

5. You Go Home The tube comes out, the opening is closed with a single stitch, and within a few hours you're walking to your car. No hospital stay. No muscle damage. Most patients are back to light activity within days — not months.

Conditions Treated

  • Herniated or bulging disc (lumbar or cervical)

  • Spinal stenosis — narrowing of the spinal canal

  • Foraminal stenosis — pinched nerve at the exit point of the spine

  • Sciatica — leg pain, numbness, or weakness from a compressed nerve root

  • Neck pain radiating into the arm (cervical radiculopathy)

  • Degenerative disc disease

  • Bone spurs pressing on nerves

  • Failed back surgery syndrome — persistent pain after a prior spine procedure

  • Recurrent disc herniation

  • Sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction

  • Facet joint arthritis causing nerve compression

  • Lumbar or cervical myelopathy — spinal cord compression

Why spine patients choose Endoscopic:

Patients choose endoscopic spine surgery because it solves the same problem as traditional open surgery — with a fraction of the incision, no muscle damage, and a recovery measured in days rather than months, so they can get back to the active Marin lifestyle they love. They choose Dr. Katsuura because he pioneered the technique in Marin County, trained with the surgeons who wrote the book on it, and delivers a level of subspecialty expertise that is not available elsewhere in the Bay.

Serving Marin County

Endoscopic Spine Care close to home.

Our Marin County clinic is designed for the active lifestyle patients of the North Bay — from Mt. Tam hikers to desk workers dealing with chronic neck pain.

Why Marin County patients choose us

Marin residents are among the most active in California — and among the most prone to overuse injuries, disc issues, and spine pain from decades of hiking, cycling, and demanding professional lives.

Dr. Katsuura built this practice specifically for patients who want to stay active, avoid massive surgery, and get back to the trails, the water, and the life they love — without relying on long-term opioids or injections that don't heal the underlying problem.

Dr. Katsuura has advanced training in endoscopic spinal procedures and have treated hundreds of Marin County spine patients with lasting results.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Traditional open spine surgery requires a large incision, significant muscle cutting, general anesthesia, and a hospital stay of several days — followed by weeks or months of recovery. Endoscopic surgery is performed through an incision smaller than a centimeter, with no muscle damage, no hospital stay, and most patients back to light activity within days. Same problem solved — dramatically less impact on your body.

  • Most patients with a herniated disc, spinal stenosis, or a pinched nerve who haven't improved with physical therapy, injections, or medication are strong candidates. The best way to find out is a consultation with Dr. Katsuura, who will review your MRI and give you a straight answer about whether the endoscopic approach is right for your specific anatomy and condition.

  • Most patients go home the same day as their procedure and are back to light activity — walking, working from home, daily tasks — within a few days. Return to desk work typically takes one to two weeks. More physical activities like hiking, cycling, and exercise are usually cleared at three to six weeks. Compare that to three to six months for traditional open surgery.

  • Most spine conditions should be treated without surgery first. Dr. Katsuura will only recommend an operation if conservative treatments have genuinely failed and surgery offers a clear, meaningful benefit for your specific situation. If there's a better non-surgical path — physical therapy, orthobiologic injections, pain management — we'll tell you. Our reputation is built on doing the right thing for the patient, not on procedure volume.

  • Dr. Katsuura is the first and most experienced endoscopic spine surgeon in Marin County — trained alongside the global pioneers of the technique and practicing exclusively in the North Bay. You get the same subspecialty expertise you'd find at UCSF or Stanford, without the bridge, without the parking, and without being treated as a number in a high-volume academic system. Your surgery is performed by Dr. Katsuura personally — not a resident, not a fellow. Your follow-up care happens five minutes from home. And if something comes up during your recovery, you have direct access to the surgeon who operated on you — not a call center.