Spine

The North Carolina Blue Cross Blue Shield has agreed to change the recently implemented lumbar fusion policy after several orthopedic and spine societies sent the company a letter recommending coverage for additional situations, according to a Spine Arthroplasty Society news…

The presence of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt is a significant risk factor for wound infection after corrective neuromuscular scoliosis surgery, according to an article published in Spine.

The North American Spine Society will sponsor one person to participate in the 2011 Clinician Scholar Development Program, according to a NASS news release.

Kapil Moza, MD, a neurosurgeon at Thousand Oaks, Calif., was the first neurosurgeon in his area to complete a cervical artificial disc replacement in 2007 and has implanted 10 more since then without complications, according to a MD News report.

Jeff Leland is CEO of Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners.   Q: We are an ASC looking to add spine surgery. What spine procedures are typically performed in an ambulatory surgery center?   Jeff Leland: Generally speaking, discectomies, decompressions, laminotomies,…

Spine Surgical Innovation has announced the launching of the Minimal Incision-Maximum Sight (MIMS) Institute.

The federal government has launched an investigation into adult scoliosis treatment after reports were released suggesting that the U.S. spends about $860 billion on therapy, braces and pain injections when spine surgery may be the best option, according to an…

The following article is written by Jeff Leland, CEO of Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners.   There is no doubt that the market for outpatient spine surgery continues to evolve and mature. However, surgeons who wish to develop a spine-focused…

Joseph Weistroffer, MD, assistant professor of orthopedic and neurological surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, recently led a study that showed 80 percent of NFL linemen who underwent surgery for spinal degeneration were able to return…

While both unilateral and bilateral laminotomies provide sufficient decompression of spinal stenosis and pain relief, the unilateral laminotomy can be performed with shorter operative times and less blood loss, according to a study published in Spine.