Gowriharan Thaiyananthan, MD, discusses where he believes biologics in spine surgery is heading.
Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. We invite all spine surgeon and specialist responses. Next week's question: How do you think consolidation of physician practices will affect the spine industry?
Please send responses to Anuja Vaidya at avaidya@beckershealthcare.com by Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 5 p.m. CST.
Question: What is the future of biologics in spine surgery?
Gowriharan "Ty" Thaiyananthan, Neurosurgeon, Founder of BASIC, Newport Beach, Calif.: Spine surgery in the future will be less about complex in-patient surgeries done in hospitals, such as fusions, and more about out-patient procedures centered on in-specialty ambulatory surgery centers that are designed to preserve motion and restore normal anatomy. Emerging applications for technologies, such as stem cell therapies and other biologics, will evolve into ultra minimally invasive surgical procedures and effective chronic pain management techniques that will enable surgeons to better treat back pain and nerve root radicular pain without having to resort to sometimes life modifying surgeries.
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