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A Davis-Monthan airman is the first patient in Southern Arizona to undergo a new surgery — using artificial spinal discs — to relieve the kind of severe lower back pain suffered by millions of Americans.

Performed at University Medical Center, the surgery placed two metal-and-plastic discs in the damaged spine of Brian Bosse, a 32-year old master sergeant at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

Along with some 12 million Americans, Bosse has battled lower back pain for years, due to a condition known as degenerative disc disease.

In his case, the strenuous physical training required by his military career eventually wore down the discs between the vertebrae that cushion the spine, leaving him in severe pain.

Despite two years of trying all kinds of nonsurgical therapies — physical exercises, chiropractic, steroid injections, even nerve cauterization — the pain persisted.

Normally, patients at this point would end up undergoing a standard, common surgery known as a spinal fusion, using bone grafts to fuse the affected vertebrae together.

Although fusion can relieve the pain, it does so by restricting flexibility and range of motion, leaving the person with a permanently stiff back.

But now, surgeons are turning to artificial discs to replace the damaged natural spinal discs, with the big advantage of preserving range of motion while reducing pain.

Originally developed in Europe and used there since the late 1980s, the technology was approved in the United States 18 months ago.

However, only younger patients with early-stage disease are true candidates for the artificial discs, said Dr. Robert Dzioba, the UA orthopedic surgeon who led the team performing Bosse's surgery in February.

"These are patients in their 30s, 40s, maybe their 50s, who have damaged discs and persistent pain, but not yet serious arthritis, stenosis or scoliosis," Dzioba said. "By that time, it's too late for the artificial disc — it won't work on the back from hell."

To implant the discs, surgeons enter the body through the abdomen, then move blood vessels and internal organs aside to get to the spine. At that point, Dzioba removed the two damaged discs and inserted the artificial discs between the vertebrae.

"The device has to be perfectly placed or it will spit out like a watermelon seed under pressure," Dzioba said. "When we got the artificial discs in there, it was a magical moment, a home run. It was one of those times in the O.R. when you think, 'wow, this is really cool.'''

With a much shorter recovery than spinal fusion surgery — which can take six months to heal — Bosse aims to return to work this month. Though he will be able to resume normal activities, he will be restricted from high-impact activity for at least a year, Dzioba said.

"I saw him two weeks ago, and he's doing very well — no complications at all, so far," he said.

Although Bosse was covered for the expensive operation — costing some $11,000 for each artificial disc, about $12,000 for the surgeon's fee, plus hospital costs — most U.S. insurance companies have been slow to pay for such a new technology.

So far, six Tucson orthopedic surgeons, including Dzioba, have been trained to implant the discs, and 12 implants have been performed in Phoenix and Flagstaff, according to the disc's manufacturer.