AAOS names Dr. Gerald Williams Jr. president
Dr. Williams is an orthopedic surgeon at the Shoulder and Elbow Center at Rothman Institute in Philadelphia. He is the co-founder and former president of the Mid-Atlantic Shoulder and Elbow Society and former president of the Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society.
5th Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for spinal cord injury shows improvement at 6 months
The fifth patient in InVivo Therapeutics’ Neuro-Spinal Scaffold INSPIRE Study reports progress. Three out of the first five patients treated have an AIS grade improvement six months after surgery. InVivo’s goal is to approach full enrollment of the INSPIRE study by the end of the year to submit for the Humanitarian Device Exemption in 2017.
Dr. Chris Yeung performs spine surgery on LA Dodgers’ Brett Anderson
Chris Yeung, MD, will perform arthroscopic spine surgery on Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson, to repair a bulging disc. Dr. Yeung is a spine surgeon practicing at Desert Institute for Spine Care in Phoenix.
TDR with Mobi-C serves as a safe and effective alternative to ACDF
TDR patients experienced a 61.9 percent composite overall success, compared to 52.2 percent for ACDF patients. TDR patients experienced significantly lower rates of device-related subsequent surgeries and adjacent segment degeneration at the superior level.
CMS proposes new Medicare drug payment models
CMS said Tuesday it would test new models to improve how Medicare Part B pays for prescription drugs in order to encourage physicians to select the most effective treatments for patients and to slow Medicare spending. CMS has proposed changing the add-on payment to 2.5 percent plus a flat fee payment of $16.80 per drug per day. These changes would begin in late 2016.
AAPM&R, AANS join forces to create Spine Patient Registry
The registry’s purpose will be to collect quality data for spine patients and track outcomes over time. The collected data will allow providers to evaluate the quality and value of specific treatments, from specific medicines to physical therapy to surgery.
Wenzel Spine releases VariLift-LX System
Adam Lewis, MD, of Jackson (Miss.) Neurosurgery Clinic, performed the first case with the VariLift-LX System. The VariLift-LX is designed for lumbar fusion procedures. Wenzel Spine plans to fully launch the system in spring 2016.
8k+ physicians matched to fellowship positions in 2015
During 2015 and early 2016, more than 8,000 physicians were matched to fellowship positions through the National Resident Matching Program’s Specialties Matching Service, according to a new report.
More articles on spine:
5 trends in spinal fusion BMP for degenerative spondylolisthesis
Spinal cord neural circuits react differently to movement speeds: 5 takeaways
Physical exercise may help spinal muscular atrophy patients: 6 observations
