New Study Led by Leading Spine Surgeons Lanman, Cuellar and Rasouli Shows Cervical Artificial Disc Replacement Safe in Outpatient Setting


Three of the nation’s preeminent spine surgeons, Drs. Todd Lanman, Jason Cuellar and Alexandre Rasouli, of Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, served as the principal investigators in a new study published November 7 in the international peer-reviewed Spine journal.

The paper entitled ‘The Safety of Single and Multi-Level Cervical Total Disc Replacement in Ambulatory Surgery Centers’ evaluated the safety profile of single and multi-level cervical artificial disc replacement, known as ADR, performed in an outpatient setting.

All three leading medical professionals, Lanman, a spinal neurosurgeon, and Cuellar and Rasouli, orthopedic spine surgeons, investigated the increasing proportion of spine surgery performed in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) vis-à-vis an analysis of consecutive cervical ADR surgeries over a 9-month period, including multi-level and revision.

The pre-, intra- and post-op data recorded during the study took into account age, gender, body mass index, tobacco use, the presence of diabetes, level and procedure, OR time, EBL, complications, discharge site, occurrence of re-operation, hospital admission or any medical complication or infection taking place over a 90-day period.

There were 147 patients who underwent 231 treated levels of ADR, including 71 single-level and 76 multi-level, or ADR in more than one disc level, comprised of 69 at two levels of the cervical spine, 6 at three levels and one at four levels.

The average age of those who participated in the study was 50, 71 of those patients were female, while 76 were males. None were insulin-dependent diabetics, four currently used tobacco, while 16 previously had used it. The average time of anesthesia was 88 minutes, and 90.3% of patients were discharged directly home, while nearly 10% went to an after-care facility.

The study authored by Lanman, Cuellar and Rasouli concluded that ADR surgeries are safe to perform in an Ambulatory Surgery Center, or outpatient setting, contingent upon an efficient surgical team and careful patient selection criteria.

The new study can be found here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31703051

Named a ‘Leader in Health Care’ by the Los Angeles Business Journal, and dubbed one of the top doctors in his field in the L.A. Times, The Hollywood Reporter and Hemispheres Magazine, Dr. Lanman is well respected as one of the leading innovators in artificial or total disc replacement. He serves as the principal investigator on the majority of clinical trials leading to their FDA approvals, and was the first to pioneer Restorative Motion Surgery, returning patients to near or full mobility and motion, by replacing fusions with artificial disc devices.

A majority of his patients include A-level celebrities from the film, TV and theatrical worlds, as well as many sports players and business magnates.

He remains a clinical professor at UCLA for two decades, has published myriad peer-reviewed articles and chapters of books relating to spine medicine, and serves as a frequent medical educator and expert contributor in the media.

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