Spine

Inpatient stays for back problems cost more than $9.5 billion in 2008, making it the ninth most expensive condition treated in hospitals, according to a report from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.

Diabetic patients with spinal stenosis and degenerative spinal disorders could benefit from surgery, although older patients with diabetes may have more complications postoperatively, according to an article published in Spine.

A Delaware County (Pa.) judge recently ruled that 16-year-old wrestler Mazeratti Mitchell, who sustained injuries to the spine, must undergo spine surgery even though his parents want him to undergo conservative treatment first, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report.

Diana Farmer, MD, a surgeon-in-chief at the University of California San Francisco's Benioff Children's Hospital, recently led a study showing that fetal surgery for spina bifida can be safely performed, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.

Patients undergoing revision lumbar fusions can expect only modest improvements in health-related quality of life, according to a study published in Spine.

Here are five studies making an impact on spine surgery today.

Stephen T. Michaels, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon, has recently been named the vice president of medical affairs at St. Mary's Hospital in Leonardtown, Md., according to a hospital news release.

Complications in cervical spine surgery are most frequent in cases involving trauma and spinal oncologic procedures, according to a report published in The Journal of Spinal Disorders & Techniques.

Alfred Bonati, MD is an orthopaedic surgeon and founder of The Bonati Spine Institute, a comprehensive care spine surgery center located in Hudson, Fla.  He began to focus on arthroscopic, or minimally invasive, spine surgery in 1986. He researched and…

Adam Bartsch, PhD, director of the spine research laboratory at the Cleveland Clinic, will lead a study on the neck's influence on concussions in young athletes, according to a Crain's Cleveland Business report.