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Dr. A. Lee Dellon, a plastic surgeon from Johns Hopkins University, designed the procedure to give patients with nerve compression in their legs the relief possible in the wrists from carpal-tunnel surgery.
Though Dellon started developing the procedure more than 15 years ago, it remains relatively unknown. Only a handful of doctors each year train to perform the procedure.Two Polk County podiatric surgeons began offering the procedure locally in December.Writing in the October Foot & Ankle International Journal, Dellon said the procedure can offer a new source of optimism for patients with neuropathy. The tarsal tunnel in the ankle is equivalent to the carpal tunnel in the wrist, with the same narrowness that makes it possible for nerves swollen by diabetes to become compressed or pinched, said Dr. Michael Gallina, a local podiatric surgeon. Dellon, who practices in Baltimore and Tucson, trains other doctors in the procedure. Gallina and Dr. Tatiana A