Spine

Spine surgery has spent years getting smaller. David J. Park, MD, is interested in what happens when there is eventually less surgery to perform at all. Dr. Park, a clinical assistant professor of neurosurgery at Stanford (Calif.) University School of…

Aurora-based University of Colorado Anschutz received a $50 million gift to expand its cerebrospinal fluid leak program. The anonymous gift will support expanding clinical capacity, recruiting physician-scientists, advancing research, supporting innovation, enhancing physician education and developing infrastructure for spinal CSF…

Pasquale Montesano, MD, still trains hard enough that some mornings he wants to go back to bed afterward. At 73, the orthopedic spine surgeon practices Jiu-Jitsu, does 80 push-ups and about 30 squats a day, and continues operating. For Dr.…

An augmented reality surgical navigation system placed pedicle screws with a positional error of 1.1 mm and an angular error of 1.3° in a cadaveric study published June 30 in the Journal of Spine Surgery. Researchers evaluated OnPoint Surgical’s OnPoint…

For decades, spine surgery has relied heavily on patient-reported outcome measures such as pain scores, the Oswestry Disability Index and the Neck Disability Index to assess treatment success. These instruments remain important and are deeply embedded in clinical research, regulatory…

The North American Spine Society recognized five spine leaders this year for their contributions to research, clinical care, advocacy and international education. NASS offers six annual recognition awards named for founding members and key contributions to the field; the Past…

Joanna Kemp, MD, spent nearly a year preparing for an operation she may never perform again. The anatomy was extraordinarily rare. Two 2-year-old girls were conjoined at the head, with shared vascular structures that would have to be mapped and…

Minimally invasive spine surgery keeps redefining itself — not just through new technique, but through new arguments about what “minimally invasive” should even mean. In 2026, that tension is playing out everywhere from CMS payment rules to the operating room…

For most of my career, the spine patients I saw all told a similar story: pain for a prolonged period of time, multiple primary care visits and too many over-the-counter remedies. Out of options, they would finally come to my…

Gerald Kadis, MD, a neurosurgeon who practiced at John D. Archbold Memorial Hospital in Thomasville, Ga., for 46 years, died Sept. 16 following an 18-month battle with cancer. He was 80. Dr. Kadis completed his neurosurgical training at Columbia Presbyterian…