Becker’s Spine Review

VB Spine has recalled 12,268 Nitinol K-wire blunt devices used in spinal surgery because they could fracture during procedures, potentially leaving fragments in patients’ bones. The FDA classified the recall as Class II and posted it Nov. 12. The affected…

Primary hip and knee replacement has moved toward shorter stays and recovery at home. Revision surgery hasn’t kept pace, according to the American Joint Replacement Registry’s 2026 annual report, released Nov. 5 by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The…

Todd Albert, MD, makes his living in the operating room. He also spends a good part of his clinic day telling patients they don’t belong there. “I’m a spine surgeon. I make a living doing surgery. I’m telling you, you…

Patrick Kim, MD, has spent the length of his career making the case for endoscopic spine, long before the approach was a widely accepted approach. First, he had to convince his residency program to let him go to Korea to…

For surgeon-owned ASCs, the paperwork may matter as much as the protocols. A review published Nov. 1 in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons argues that ASC success often depends less on clinical care than on the…

When the surgeons at Princeton (N.J.) Orthopaedic Associates designed their new ASC, they mapped it the way a patient experiences it: from walking in the door to the operating room to recovery. They built the center around that path, positioning…

Columbus-based Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center now offers a joint replacement for thumb arthritis, joining a small, but growing, group of U.S. sites performing the procedure. Ryan Schmucker, MD, a plastic surgeon who specializes in hand surgery at Ohio…

Orthopedic and spine surgeons remain among the highest-paid physicians in the U.S., but the forces behind their compensation are pulling in opposite directions heading into 2027. Surgical pay climbed in 2025 even as overall physician pay rose just 2%, the…