Spine

Jason Zook, MD, and his team at Durham, N.C.-based EmergeOrtho earned Barricaid Platinum Center of Excellence, according to a Feb. 20 LinkedIn post. The designation is awarded for consistent clinical excellence with the Barricaid device, designed for high-risk discectomy patients.…

As a board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon with fellowship training in both orthopedic and neurosurgical spine surgery from the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, I’ve spent over a decade navigating the evolving landscape of spine care. My journey has taken me from rigorous…

The FDA granted Empirical Spine’s LimiFlex dynamic saggittal tether premarket approval. LimiFlex is a motion-preserving system for lumbar spinal stenosis associated with Grade I degenerative spondylolisthesis after decompression, according to a Feb. 18 news release. The system was developed from…

The spine landscape has transformed significantly for William Kemp, MD, especially with the rise of advanced practitioners and non-operative spine physicians. However he affirms there’s still important value for trained surgeons. Dr. Kemp, a spine surgeon in Richmond, Va., discussed…

Endoscopic spine surgery comes with some hurdles such as the learning curve. But a greater barrier facing spine surgeons wanting to add endoscopic technology is the implementation itself, Kai-Uwe Lewandrowski, MD, said. Dr. Lewandrowski discussed this challenge and how surgeons…

When the IDE “Ideal Patient” No Longer Matches Real Practice A 66-year-old former distance runner came in with neck pain that undermined her work and daily life. On paper, she violated several pillars of the classic disc replacement “ideal patient”…

In healthcare, partnerships between insurers and physicians are often announced with optimism and framed as transformative, yet many fail to achieve sustained alignment due to competing incentives. Orthopedics, with its high-cost procedures and deeply ingrained emphasis on physician autonomy, has…

Aaron Clark, MD, PhD, performed the first case with Carlsmed’s corra cervical plating system, according to a Feb. 18 news release. The corra plating system is designed to stabilize the spine during fusions and is made with patient-specific plates. Anatomical…

Independent spine surgeons face some unique financial challenges that their employed peers might not encounter. On top of clinical work, independent spine physicians grapple with the costs of running a business and keeping up with margins. Spine physicians from different…

Spinal neurosurgeon John O’Toole, MD, was named chair of the neurological surgery at Chicago-based Rush University, according to a Feb. 17 LinkedIn post. Dr. O’Toole previously worked as co-director of neurosciences at Rush, a position he’s held since 2021. In…