Trends in Intraoperative Assessment of Spinal Alignment: A Survey of Spine Surgeons in the United States

Study Design: Survey. Objectives: To characterize national practices of and shortcomings surrounding intraoperative assessments of spinal alignment. Methods: Spine surgeons in the US were surveyed to analyze their experience with assessing spinal alignment intraoperatively. Results: 108 US spine sur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Global spine journal Vol. 12; no. 2_suppl; pp. 82S - 86S
Main Authors:	Gullotti, David M., Soltanianzadeh, Amir H., Fujita, Saki, Inserni, Miguel, Ruppel, Edward, Franconi, Nicholas G., Zygourakis, Corinna, Protopsaltis, Themistocles, Lo, Sheng-Fu Larry, Sciubba, Daniel M., Theodore, Nicholas
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-04-2022 Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects:	Polls & surveys Radiation Special Issue Surgeons United States > US spinal alignment spinal deformity radiation reduction surgical navigation image guidance intraoperative measurements
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Study Design: Survey. Objectives: To characterize national practices of and shortcomings surrounding intraoperative assessments of spinal alignment. Methods: Spine surgeons in the US were surveyed to analyze their experience with assessing spinal alignment intraoperatively. Results: 108 US spine surgeons from 77 surgical centers with an average of 19.2 + 8.8 years of surgical experience completed the survey. To assess alignment intraoperatively, 84% (91/108) use C-arm or spot radiographs, 40% (43/108) use full-length radiographs, and 20% utilize the T-bar (22/108). 88% of respondents’ surgical centers (93/106) possessed a navigation camera and 63% of respondents (68/108) report using surgical navigation for 40% of their deformity cases on average. Reported deterrents for using current technology to assess alignment were workflow interruption (54%, 58/108), expense (33%, 36/108), and added radiation exposure (26%, 28/108). 87% of respondents (82/94) reported a need for improvement in current capabilities of making intraoperative assessments of spinal alignment. Conclusions: Corrective surgery for spinal deformity is a complex procedure that requires a high level of expertise to perform safely. The majority of surveyed surgeons primarily rely on radiographs for intraoperative assessments of alignment. Despite the majority of surveyed surgical practices possessing navigation cameras, they are utilized only for a minority of spinal deformity cases. With the majority of surveyed surgeons reporting a need for improvement in technology to assess spinal alignment intraoperatively, 3 of the top design considerations should include workflow interruption, expense, and radiation exposure.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2192-5682 2192-5690
DOI:	10.1177/21925682211037273