Spine

Antonio E. Castellvi, MD, a spine surgeon and member of the International Advocates for Spine Patients, recently passed away.

Charles L. Branch, MD, has been asked to join the editorial board of Spine Surgery Today to be launched in March 2014, according to a Winston-Salem Journal report.

Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Mass., has named Alec L. Meleger, MD, director of interventional spine services, according a Wicked local Newton report.

An analysis of the information on the internet about the X-Stop spinal procedures was recently published in The Spine Journal to determine how public information online portrays controversy existing in the literature.

Minimally Invasive Surgery Institute in Cincinnati recently welcomed spine surgeon Jamal Taha, MD, to its medical staff.

J. Peter Witt, MD, a spine surgeon at the University of Colorado Hospital Spine Center in Aurora, is helping pioneer a new technique for treating herniated discs called percutaneous lumbar endoscopic discectomies or PELDs.

Researchers recently conducted an in vitro study on spinal burst fractures and the biomechanics underpinnings of the unexplained phenomenon, according to a study in The Spine Journal.

UCLA researchers Daniel Lu, MD, and Reggie Edgerton, MD, received a five-year $6 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering for research on cervical spinal cord injury therapies.

Neurosurgical Associates of Abington (Pa.) announced the addition of Douglas W. Laske, MD, to its physician team.

  Robert Watkins, MD, co-director of Marina Spine Center at Marina Del Rey (Calif.) Hospital, discussed lumbar disc herniation in the elite athlete at the 2013 North American Spine Society Annual Meeting.