Becker's Spine Review

6 SPINE Dr. Chad Prusmack performs back surgery on National Hockey League Player By Cameron Cortigiano C had Prusmack, MD, performed back surgery on Mark Stone, a winger for the Vegas Golden Knights in the National Hockey League, on Jan. 31 in Denver, according to a report from vegashockeynow.com. Mr. Stone initially suffered the injury Jan. 12. He attempted to heal the injury without surgery but suffered a setback. e surgery was the second back procedure in the past nine months for Mr. Stone, the report said. Dr. Prusmack is a neurosurgeon at the Rocky Mountain Spine Clinic in Lone Tree, Colo., and specializes in minimally invasive surgical procedures. He is a member of the North American Spine Society and is the primary neurosurgical consultant for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League. Mr. Stone is expected to make a full recovery from the surgery but is out of the Knight's lineup indefinitely. n Dr. Daniel Choi performs 1st dualPortal endoscopic spinal surgery in region By Claire Wallace D aniel Choi, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Patchogue, N.Y.-based Spine Medicine & Surgery of Long Island, completed the first dualPortal endoscopic spinal surgery on Long Island, according to a Jan. 23 post on the surgeon's LinkedIn profile. Amplify Surgical's dualPortal allows physicians to perform minimally invasive procedures through a tube or small incision with a viewing portal for the endoscope. e procedure allows for less muscle trauma, less bleeding and less patient downtime. n No. of active orthopedic surgeons dips 3.7% from 2016-2021: report By Carly Behm O rthopedic surgery as a specialty saw a dip between 2016 and 2021, while sports medicine saw a significant jump, according to the Association of American Medical College's "2022 Physician Specialty Data Report." The report pulled data from the the American Medical Association, the U.S. Census Bureau, and a national resident database and tracking system. It covers about about 950,000 physicians and physicians in training among 48 of the largest specialties in 2021. In 2016, there were 19,174 active orthopedic physicians, the report said. By 2021, that figure was down 3.7 percent with 18,469 physicians. The report differentiated between sports medicine and sports medicine (orthopedic surgery), which saw a 26 percent and 42.5 percent increase in active physicians, respecitively. Other specialities seeing growth include pediatric anesthesiology (+37.7 percent), interventional cardiology (+ 32.6 percent) and critical care medicine (+ 30.1 percent). n New CPT code for 2-level lumbar disc replacement goes into effect By Carly Behm T he American Medical Association issued a CPT add-on code for the second level in lumbar total disc procedures, devicemaker Centinel Spine said Jan. 18. The code went into effect Jan. 1 and applies to two- level total lumbar disc replacement using an anterior approach, according to a news release. Centinel Spine's Prodisc L is the only total disc replacement in the U.S. approved for two-level use in the lumbar spine. "This new CPT code will allow more patients access to two-level lumbar total disc replacement," spine surgeon Vivek Mohan, MD, said in the release. "There is a significant number of patients with symptomatic two-level degenerative disc disease in the lumbar spine, and this will impact their ability to benefit from the advantages of lumbar disc replacements." n

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