Advanced technology and world-renowned spine expertise help reduce your pain and restore mobility.
Serious back and neck problems can occur as a result of aging, trauma, or developmental defects; with symptoms ranging from minor discomfort to crippling immobility. Fortunately, advances in spinal neurosurgical research and technology have enabled doctors to better navigate the complex makeup of the spine, pinpoint causes of pain, and apply proven, healing therapies.
The Spine Institute at University Hospitals is regarded as a national leader and pioneer in spinal neurosurgery. People from across the country with the most serious back problems come to us for help. We diagnose and treat the full spectrum of spinal disorders, including:
- Arthritis: inflammation of one or more joints, which results in pain, swelling, and limited movement;
- Degenerative disorders / aging of the spine;
- Fractures: If more pressure is put on a bone than it can stand, it will split or break. A break of any size is called a fracture;
- Herniated disks: a slipped disk along the spinal cord. The condition occurs when all or part of the soft center of a spinal disk is forced through a weakened part of the disk;
- Infections: these include diskitis, spinal cord abscess, and vertebral osteomyelitis;
- Injury / trauma to back, neck, spine or spinal cord: Your spinal cord contains nerves that carry messages between your brain and body. The cord passes through your neck and back. A spinal cord injury is very serious because it can cause paralysis below the site of the injury;
- Kyphotic deformities: a curving of the spine that causes a bowing of the back, which leads to a hunchback or slouching posture;
- Malignant and benign spinal tumors: a growth of cells (mass) within or surrounding the spinal cord;
- Paralysis and chronic spinal pain;
- Revision back surgery;
- Spinal cord compression: damage to the spinal cord. It may result from direct injury to the cord itself or indirectly from damage to surrounding bones, soft tissues, and blood vessels;
- Spinal deformities (scoliosis, kyphosis);
- Spinal stenosis: a narrowing of the lumbar (back) or cervical (neck) spinal canal, which causes compression of the nerve roots.
Our patients benefit from collaborative efforts made between highly-skilled neurosurgeons and orthopedists. This multidisciplinary approach to patient care offers the best chance for a full, long-term recovery. We specialize in minimally-invasive techniques and the latest procedures performed at no other hospitals. Our services include:
- Arthroscopy: a method of viewing a joint and, if needed, performing surgery on it. An arthroscope consists of a tiny tube, lens, and a light source. The device is inserted into a small incision and allows a surgeon to look for joint damage or disease. The device also allows the surgeon to perform reconstructive procedures on the joint, if needed
- Laparoscopic fusions: surgery to correct problems in the spine bones (vertebrae). The surgery stabilizes the back by fusing certain bones in the spine together. The procedure is done via laparoscopy, which describes a group of operations performed with the aid of a camera placed in the abdomen.
- Microsurgery of the spinal cord:
- Microvascular surgery:
- Minimally invasive procedures: procedures in which laparoscopic devices and remote-controlled instruments are inserted through a small incision, body cavity or anatomical opening. Because they create less physical trauma, minimally-invasive procedures usually result in shorter hospital stays and faster healing.
- Spinal implants
- CyberKnife® offers new hope for treatment of neck and spine tumors.
This painless, non-invasive technology gives patients new hope for treatment of neck and spine tumors and lesions; and can also be utilized for treatment of tumors that were previously diagnosed as untreatable or inoperable in the pancreas, lung, liver, kidney, prostate and breast.
Additional innovative diagnostic and treatment techniques: