Blog Archive

One of the common clinical scenarios I encounter as a neurosurgeon is a patient who has persistent and severe pain in the back or the legs after a previous surgery on the spine. This is sometimes referred to as “failed back surgery syndrome,” and it occurs in about...

Robot assisted spine surgery utilizes the good things about spinal navigation but significantly increases the accuracy of screw placement into the bone. Prior to or during surgery, the surgeon can plan where he wants to place the screws based on CT scans that provide...

The field of minimally invasive spine surgery is rapidly evolving and Robotics is one technology I utilize. This makes me more efficient in the OR which cuts down on surgery time for the patient and less time under anesthesia. Another advantage is the precision that...

The spine is made up of a series of joints which are composed primarily of a disk which can degenerate over the course of time due to the fact that it's moving. Arthritis and general wear and tear can occur and eventually, the disk can break down. When this happens,...

As we get age, plaque builds up in our blood vessels. This is caused by smoking and other lifestyle choices like poor diet. One of the most common places for this to develop is at the carotid bifurcation. Normally, our carotid artery comes off of our chest and up on...

The normal anatomy of our head starts with the hair and scalp on the outside, the bony skull below, and then the brain on the inside. Between the skull and the brain there is a thin layer, called the dura. The dura acts like a bag that encases and protects the brain....

Open back surgery can be avoided altogether when accessing the spine through the stomach. With this procedure, the disk is removed and replaced with artificial disks made of two titanium implants and a mobile core that allows the patient to keep moving at that level....

Treating patients with neck and back problems without the use of fusion involves replacing or fixing a disk that has been damaged rather than fusing it to another segment. Disk replacement can be done in the neck and in the lumbar spine. Patients that have...

Disk replacement in the neck has been around for quite some time and the technology available is phenomenal. In the United States, we have FDA approval to perform up to two consecutive levels of disk replacement. Dr Kimball is involved in FDA clinical studies on...

If you are reading this, it's probably unlikely that you have a fracture that is unstable since most people that have that condition usually present to an emergency room and are not going to be spending time searching around for whether or not they need a fusion. In...