News and Research for Spine Professionals

Depression Rates After Spine Surgery

Results from a large study evaluating risk for post-operative depression after spinal surgery suggest that psychosocial effects of major surgery on patients cannot be overstated.

Is Chiropractic Care Safe and Effective for Older Adults?

The updated recommendations include data from recently published randomized-controlled trials that provide additional support for the safety of spinal manipulative therapy in older adults.

Neck Disability Index Scores of ≤7 Are Correlated with Patient Satisfaction Following Surgery for Degenerative Cervical Disc Disease

Findings from a study designed to correlate Neck Disability Index (NDI) score with patient satisfaction following anterior surgery for degenerative cervical disc disease.

Career Advancement Advice for Spine Professionals

As a spine professional, you have a much different experience in the job market compared to those in the business world. The focus isn’t merely on your technical skills.

iMAS Technique Combines Open and Minimally Invasive Approaches for Treatment of Degenerative Spine Disorders

The intervertebral micro access surgery (iMAS) technique for transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion offers a novel approach for treatment of select degenerative lumbar disease processes. Learn more about this approach.

Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization

The last 20 years have seen an explosion in the use of metal or hard plastic instruments to assess and treat soft-tissue injuries, such as in IASTM.

Do Sit-Stand Desks Have a Role in Spine Care?

Office workers who alternated between sitting and standing significantly increased the number of calories they burned without causing pain.

Abaloparatide Reduces Fracture Risk in Women with Osteoporosis

Daily injection of abaloparatide for 18 months significantly reduced the risk of new vertebral and nonvertebral fractures in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis at high risk of fracture.

Innovative Biomarker Tool for Chronic Pain Assessment

The Neurophysiologic Pain Profile (NP3), combined with other standard technology and tools, provides unprecedented data that lets patients and physicians know what is necessary for each individual.

Psychosocial Risk Factors for Extended Disability

Why do some people recover from an acute musculoskeletal injury, while others transition out of the acute injury phase in the opposite direction—toward chronic disability?

Role of Workers’ Compensation Data in Spinal Disability

Technology Update: Keith Rosenblum spoke about the unique role workers’ compensation data may play stemming from the rising tide of spinal disability costs worldwide.

Keys to Understanding Spine-Related Disability

Robert Barth, PhD, discusses three sets of key references he believes critical to changing our understanding of spine-related disability.

Spine-Related Disability: Understanding the Global Burden of Disease Studies

Understanding the global burden of spine-related disability was the focus of a recent presentation by Nicola V. Hawkinson, DNP, RN, RNFA at the 2nd Annual Spine 10 x 25 Summit.

Lumbar Herniated Discs: Diagnostic and Treatment Decision-Making

Richard Deyo, MD and Sohail Mirza, MD discuss the current research on lumbar herniated discs, including diagnostic pearls along with the most efficacious treatment options and guidelines.

Axial Spondyloarthritis: Are We Missing the Diagnosis?

Providers who treat back pain often lack a clear understanding of the presentation, diagnostic workup and treatment options for axial spondyloarthritis.

Novel Scoring System Predicts Complications Post Spinal Fusion

A novel simple-to-use scoring system that can postoperatively predict which patients are at a higher risk for major complications from spinal fusion was published in The Spine Journal.

Physician Burnout and Professional Dissatisfaction Linked to Electronic Health Records and Computerized Physician Order Entry

Use of electronic health records (EHRs) and computerized physician order entry (CPOE) may lead to lower physician satisfaction and higher rates of professional burnout.

Opioid Prescribing: The Hospitalist Perspective, A Qualitative Analysis

A study published recently in the Journal of Hospital Medicine reveals some surprising factors that influence hospitalists' attitudes toward opioid prescribing during hospitalization and at discharge.

Guidance on Medications for Fracture Healing Released by Expert Panel

The International Osteoporosis Foundation reviewed existing literature and voted on appropriateness of care for fracture healing.

iFuse Titanium Implant System Shows Efficacy and Safety in 2-Year Study

The introduction of minimally invasive alternatives to open SI joint fusion were met with skepticism early on; however, initial retrospective studies showed promise.

Is Vertebral Augmentation Beneficial for Compression Fractures in the Elderly?

Findings suggest that vertebral augmentation is efficacious for the treatment of compression fractures in elderly patients with osteoporosis, James S. Harrop, MD, told attendees at Spine Summit 2016.

Early Surgical Decompression Improves Outcomes From Spinal Cord Injuries

Early decompression should be considered as a treatment option for adults with traumatic spinal cord injuries, particularly in people with severe injury.

Mesenchymal Stem Cell Allograft and ACDF Study Outcomes

Patients who received mesenchymal stem cell allografts during anterior cervical discectomy and fusion had lower fusion rates compared with a matched cohort of patients who received standard allografts.

Coflex Device Shows ‘Similar or Superior’ Efficacy to Fusion When Used With Decompression in 5-Year Study of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis

Decompression plus interlaminar stabilization with coflex® (Paradigm Spine, LLC) produced similar outcomes to decompression plus fusion with pedicle screws in the treatment of lumbar spinal stenosis.

Recombinant Bone Morphogenetic Protein Linked to Reduce Risk of Reoperation Following Spine Fusion for Adult Scoliosis

It is incumbent upon surgeons and researchers to provide clinical data for use of BMP in fusion surgery not only from large administrative databases, but also from single center studies.

Acupuncture for Pediatric Back Pain

Study results show acupuncture could be a viable nonpharmacological option to improve back pain in pediatric patients.

Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease Linked to Suboptimal Quality of Life Benefit After Lumbar Decompression

Patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease do not experience expected improvements in quality of life following lumbar decompression in the treatment of lumbar degenerative disease.

Challenges of Spine Surgery in Patients With Osteoporosis

Management of spine surgery in patients with osteoporosis poses many challenges, given the additional complexity that poor-quality bone introduces to the surgical management.

Meeting Highlights from the 31st Annual Meeting of the Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves—Spine Summit 2015

Six prestigious international spine societies were represented during the Spine Summit 2015 program.

mobi-c, disc, replacement, TDR, anterior discectomy and fusion, ACDF, total

Although several TDR devices are on the market, few have been clinically evaluated for 2-level use.

Perspective on Training Future Spine Surgeons

A new residency pathway focused specifically on training future spine surgeons should be developed to meet the changing needs of modern spine surgery practice.

Robotic Guidance System for Cervical and Thoracolumbar Spinal Surgery

Study focused on predictive accuracy of surgical planning using a robotic guidance system in the placement of pedicle screws in cervical spine or thoracolumbar spine surgery.

Combined Robotic Navigation System for Screw Placement Shows Efficacy in Spinal Surgery

Malpositioning of screws in posterior lumbar spinal fusion can lead to neurologic and visceral injury, as well as biomechanical compromise. ISASS19 presentation reviews the efficacy of a novel robotic navigation system in a retrospective case series.

6 Spine Technology Highlights

During NASS 2017, SpineUniverse met with many industry leaders and randomly chose 6 to highlight in this snapshot.

Surgery for Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease Increased by 2.4-fold in the Last Decade

Surgical treatment of lumbar/ lumbosacral degenerative disc disease increased by 2.4-fold between 2000 and 2009, according to data from a nationwide, population-based cohort published in the The Spine Journal.

What Is the Rate of Lumbar Fusion Following Single-Level Discectomy?

The analysis was based on data from more than 13,500 patients who underwent discectomy between January 2007 and September 2014.

Romosozumab Reduces Risk for New Vertebral Fractures in Postmenopausal Women with Osteoporosis

Results of the FRAME study involved 7,180 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis who were randomized to a monthly subcutaneous injection with either 210-mg romosozumab or placebo for 12 months.

Do Spinal Injections in the Treatment of Degenerative Disc Disease offer Value?

The 2015 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Assessment, although highly rigorous, may not be truly reflective of the entire evidence base regarding injections.

Adding Lateral Interbody Fusion to Open Surgery Improves Outcomes in Adult Spinal Deformity

Surgical correction of mild-to-moderate spinal deformity and sagittal imbalance is complex and often plagued by relatively high complication rates.

Transsacral Fixation Is Linked to High Fusion Rate and Improved Quality of Life in Adult Scoliosis

Use of minimally invasive transsacral fixation resulted in fusion in nearly 90% of adults with scoliosis as well as improved health-related quality of life and a relatively low complication rate.

Higher Than Expected Rate of Reoperation Found Following Final Fusion in Early-Onset Scoliosis

Twenty percent of children with early-onset scoliosis who underwent growing-rod surgery required reoperation following final fusion. The higher than expected rate of reoperation has important implications for patient counseling.

Elderly Women Report Worse Outcomes than Men Following Lumbar Discectomy, but Similar Satisfaction Rate

A review of the Swedish registry for spine surgery that looked at gender differences in over 1,000 elderly patients (age >65 years) who had a lumbar discectomy.

Minimally Invasive Posterior or Transarticular Approach to Sacroiliac Joint Fusion?

Up to 20% of low back pain can be caused by one or both sacroiliac (SI) joints. Diagnosis of the SI joint as the pain generator can be challenging and requires...

Intracept Intraosseous Nerve Ablation System Reduces Pain and Disability in Chronic Axial Low Back Pain

Ablation of the intraosseous basivertebral nerve (BNV) is a recent FDA-approved treatment for axial chronic low back pain that does not respond to conservative care.

Addition of a Plasma-Sprayed Titanium Coated PEEK Interbody Implant to Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion Shows High Success Rate

The study involved 44 patients (48% male, mean age, 53 years) who received a PTC PEEK implant during single or multi-level anterior lumbar interbody fusion procedure.