Recent studies in The Spine Journal and The Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine highlighted the advantages of single-position approaches to spinal fusion compared to the traditional open method.
Most notably, novel single-position techniques have been deemed safe and reproducible procedures that can significantly shorten OR time as staff do not need to reposition the patient during surgery.
Here are three surgeons integrating single-position approaches to spine surgery into their practice:
Nikolay Martirosyan, MD, consulted with a mentor before performing a prone, single-position spine surgery at Allen Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa. As of September, he had performed the procedure three times and plans to use it with most of his patients.
In August, Joseph Cox, MD, performed one of the first prone transpoas spine surgeries in Mississippi. He expects more patients to opt for the single-position technique at his practice.
Themistocles Protopsaltis, MD, chief of spine surgery and co-director of the Spine Center at NYU Langone in New York City, expanded on how single-position anterior–posterior lumbar fusion has benefitted patients at his practice. "We can achieve better height restoration, especially for slipped disks where the vertebrae shift out of position ... It gives us more powerful anatomical control to restore disks to their normal alignment — which is more likely to heal and eliminate problems patients can experience later due to segment degeneration."