Four key trends in spine surgery technique advancement from Praveen Kadimcherla, MD, of Atlantic Spine Center in Orange, N.J.
1. Robotics: I believe we are still in early phases of robotic assistance in spine surgery. Various new robots from Mazor to Globus are rapidly advancing the technology to the point where it can be used in almost all aspects of spine surgery to make complex spine surgery safer and more reliable.
2. Minimally invasive spine: I believe as time goes on, I think minimally invasive spine surgery will be a standard of care and no longer an option.
3. Endoscopic spine surgery: Already extremely popular in Asian countries, endoscopic spine surgery will become more of a standard procedure in the United States. I believe the biggest limitation now is the infrastructure to perform these procedures and as more companies pursue endoscopic surgery it will become more accessible.
4. Sagittal imbalance: Sagittal imbalance combined with accurate ways to measure with digital films and availability of minimally invasive techniques of deformity correction. Sagittal imbalance will be a critical way surgical success will be judged.