Week 5: Spine Surgeries and Excel Files

On the context of my clinical research project, I continue extracting the different demographic and skeletal specific factors for the patients of our study. I was also able to attend an additional spinal fusion surgery under the supervision of Dr. Kim at HSS. During this week, I was particularly interested in the surgical equipment that he uses for the procedure. Dr. Kim uses the Zimmer Biomet Vitality Spinal Fixation System for his spine surgeries. The components of the system are made from medical grade titanium alloy and medical grade cobalt chromium alloy. In summary, these were the main steps of the process for installing the screws into the patient spine which, personally, was the most interesting part of the procedure. 

Initially, the pedicle area of the vertebrae is localized, and an insertion is made in the cortical shell. Then, a probe, included with the system, creates a pathway for the polyaxial pedicle screw to be inserted into the pedicle and the vertebral body. It is important to confirm the pedicle integrity to avoid inserting a polyaxial pedicle screw into the wrong location or damaging any nerve or portion of the spine. The surgeon also uses a device named "Ball Tip Probe" to determine the length of the polyaxial pedicle screw based on the depth of the insertion made in the pedicle. After the appropriate type and length of the screw is determined, the latter one is inserted into the prepared pedicle until it reached the predetermined depth. I include a visual representation of this portion of the surgical procedure to facilitate the reader's understanding. Both images were obtained from the company' PDF which contained a significant amount of detailed information about the Vitality Spinal Fixation System. 


Stay tuned for some restaurant's suggestions and beautiful pictures on the post for the upcoming week. 

Hasta la próxima aventura!


  

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