Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

This issue of Neurosurgery Clinics of North America is devoted to "Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery" and is edited by Zachary A. Smith, MD and Richard G. Fessler, MD, PhD. Articles in this issue include: Complications and complication avoidance of minimally invasive spine surgery; Radiation exposure risk and avoidance; Current techniques in the management of cervical myelopathy and radiculopathy; Thoracic disc/pathology management through minimally invasive routes; Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody fusion: Long term outcomes and complications; Computer-assisted navigation technique for minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion and lateral interbody fusion; Safety and the Anatomy of the retroperitoneal lateral corridor; Minimally invasive extracavitary transpedicular corpectomy for the management of spinal tumors; Minimally invasive anterolateral corpectomy for spinal tumors; Minimally invasive approaches for the management of intramedullary spinal tumors; Percutaneous fixation of thoracolumbar fractures; Advances and feasibility of advanced minimally invasive techniques in deformity correction; Direct lateral approach: Outcomes and Deformity Correction; and Evidence basis and outcomes.

Professor at the Department of Neurosurgery, Rush Medical College Fessler is a board-certified neurosurgeon who specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery. He is dedicated to finding innovative methods to repair spinal cord injuries, and he has been a pioneer in minimally invasive spine surgery. Fessler has made significant contributions to endoscopic and microendoscopic surgical developments, including microendoscopic discectomy and microendoscopic compression of lumbar stenosis. He has a special interest in spinal cord transplantation and was the first physician in the United States to perform human embryonic spinal cord transplantation.