Spinal Epidural Hematoma Following Epidural Steroid Injection in a Patient Treated with Dabigatran: A Case Report.

I specialize in the surgical management of all complex cervical, thoracic, lumbar, or sacral spinal diseases by using minimally invasive as well as standard approaches for arthritis or degenerative disease, deformity, tumors, and trauma. I have a special interest in the treatment of thoracolumbar deformities, occipital-cervical problems, and in helping patients with complex spinal issues from previously unsuccessful surgery or recurrent disease.I listen to my patients to understand their symptoms and experiences so I can provide them with the information and education they need to manage their disease. I make sure my patients understand their treatment options, and what will work best for their individual condition. I treat all my patients with care and concern – just as I would treat my family. I am available to address my patients' concerns before and after surgery.  I aim to improve surgical outcomes for my patients and care of all spine patients with active research evaluating clinical and radiological results after spine surgery with multiple prospective databases. I am particularly interested in prevention of spinal deformity, infections, complications, and recurrent spinal disease. Also, I study whether patient specific variables including pelvic/sacral anatomy and sagittal spinal balance predict complications from spine surgery.

1. Current research includes investigation of biomechanical aspects of cervical injury with head impact. This involves cadaveric work with high-speed photography and load cells to ascertain the mechanism for spinal fractures.
   
   2. An animal model is being used to evaluate the biomechanics of cervical laminectomy versus laminoplasty compared to the normal spine. A portion of the animals are developing myelopathy secondary to instability after the surgical procedure and this is being evaluated with MRI scanning as well as mechanical and radiographic testing.
   
   
   3. Studies are being performed to develop an impedance pedicle probe to aid safe insertion of pedicular instrumentation in the lumbar spine. Ongoing studies are being performed to define the optimal frequency for the probe to yield the most sensitive and specific device. Hopefully this will lead to development of a device for human use. Studies will compare impedance probe to currently used EMG techniques to see if combing them will lead to greater sensitivity and specificity.
   
   4. Studies are being completed on testing particular pull-out strength and doing a multi-varied analysis looking at size of the pedicle and bone density by two different techniques.
   
   5. Current work is ongoing to develop an outcomes instrument and database to be used in the outpatient setting for patients with spinal complaints, both cervical and lumbar. The device will be used to evaluate clinical effectiveness for a variety of treatments for spinal conditions and to look at patient satisfaction issues.