Neurovision
One of the risks of any type of spine surgery is injury to a nerve either directly with an instrument such as a scalpel or an electrocautery, or indirectly by the placement of a screw near a nerve.
Neurovision is an innovative technology introduced by Nuvasive (San Diego, CA) that allows us to continuously stimulate screws and instruments with an electrical current, up to five times a second, while they are being used. If a nerve is contacted by a screw or instrument during surgery, Neurovision alerts us to stop and re-evaluate our trajectory. This allows us to perform minimally invasive with the lowest possible risk to nerve roots.
O Arm/Stealth
During complex instrumentation and fusion surgery, sometimes it becomes necessary to be able to view the trajectory that a particular screw will take before even placing it, just to make sure that it is placed in exactly the correct location.
The “O Arm” by Medtronic (Minneapolis, MN) is an imaging station that allows us to take live CT scans before, during, and after surgery. We use these scans along with Stealth image guidance software to aim our screws during a surgery. After we are done, we are able to verify that all screws have been placed appropriately.
Kyphon Inflatable Bone Tamps
Vertebroplasty is a commonly used method of addressing vertebral compression fractures by injecting a bone cement called methylmethacrylate into them. The cement not only “glues” fracture fragments together, but also destroys pain fibers within the bone by releasing heat while setting.
Kyphon (Sunnyvale, CA) revolutionized the treatment of vertebral compression fractures by introducing a procedure called “kyphoplasty”, in which a balloon or an “inflatable bone tamp”, is used to expand, or “reduce”, the fracture before the bone cement is introduced. Since their introduction, Kyphon IBTs have undergone several changes making them suitable for a wide variety of fracture configurations. We use them exclusively for all of our kyphoplasty procedures.