Publications by authors named "Thomas Buell"

Background: Early-term complications may not predict long-term success after adult cervical deformity (ACD) correction.

Objective: Evaluate whether optimal realignment results in similar rates of perioperative complications but achieves longer-term cost-utility.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Patients with proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK) or failure (PJF) may demonstrate disparate outcomes and recovery when fused to the upper (UT) versus lower (LT) thoracic spine. Few studies have distinguished the reoperation and recovery abilities of patients with PJK or PJF when fused to the upper (UT) versus lower (LT) thoracic spine. Adult spine deformity patients ≥ 18 yrs with preoperative and 5-year (5Y) data fused to the sacrum/pelvis were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Adult spinal deformity comprises a heterogeneous group of disorders that primarily affects older patients and can have a significant negative affect on health-related quality of life. Operative treatment for adult spinal deformity typically entails posterior instrumented fusions that have demonstrated the potential to significantly improve health-related quality of life outcomes. However, until fusion is achieved, the instrumentation providing structural support is subject to repetitive cyclical loading that disproportionately fatigues high-stress areas and can result in instrumentation failure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Malalignment following cervical spine deformity (CSD) surgery can negatively impact outcomes and increase complications. Despite the growing ability to plan alignment, it remains unclear whether preoperative goals are achieved with surgery. The objective of this study was to assess how good surgeons are at achieving their preoperative goal alignment following CSD surgery.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Simultaneous fractures of C1 and C2 are increasingly common, but contemporary series are limited in their evaluation.

Methods: All patients with traumatic fractures of both C1 and C2 admitted to an academic trauma center from 2012 to 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. Multivariable regression was used to identify characteristics relevant to management and outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify baseline patient and surgical factors predictive of optimal outcomes in staged versus same-day combined-approach surgery.

Methods: Adult spinal deformity (ASD) patients with baseline and perioperative (by 6 weeks) data were stratified based on single-stage (same-day) or multistage (staged) surgery, excluding planned multiple hospitalizations. Means comparison analyses were used to assess baseline demographic, radiographic, and surgical differences between cohorts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To evaluate the variability in intraoperative fluid management during adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery, and analyze the association with complications, intensive care unit (ICU) requirement, and length of hospital stay (LOS).

Methods: Multicenter comparative cohort study. Patients ≥ 18 years old and with ASD were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: To assess impact of baseline disability on HRQL outcomes.

Methods: CD patients with baseline (BL) and 2 year (2Y) data included, and ranked into quartiles by baseline NDI, from lowest/best score (Q1) to highest/worst score (Q4). Means comparison tests analyzed differences between quartiles.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Severe sagittal plane deformity, particularly with significant loss of L4-S1 lordosis, can be effectively improved through surgical techniques like ALIF, PSO, and TLIF, but there’s limited data on their comparative effectiveness.
  • A study included 96 patients with severe spinal deformity, undergoing ALIF, PSO, or TLIF, and assessed their demographics, surgical outcomes, and complications.
  • Results showed that ALIF had similar lordosis correction to PSO but with fewer intraoperative complications, making it a preferable option for surgery when applicable.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To assess the financial impact of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols and cost-effectiveness in cervical deformity corrective surgery.

Study Design: Retrospective review of prospective CD database.

Background: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) can help accelerate patient recovery and assist hospitals in maximizing the incentives of bundled payment models while maintaining high-quality patient care.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Correctly choosing the uppermost instrumented vertebra (UIV) during surgery for adult spinal deformity (ASD) significantly affects patient outcomes and quality of life.
  • Factors influencing UIV selection include preoperative spinal alignment, patient health conditions, and the surgeon's experience and available resources.
  • Research indicates that optimizing UIV selection can improve deformity correction and lower the risk of complications like proximal junctional kyphosis, although the impact on postoperative quality of life remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Study Design: Retrospective cohort.

Objective: To evaluate factors associated with the long-term durability of cost-effectiveness (CE) in ASD patients.

Background: A substantial increase in costs associated with the surgical treatment for adult spinal deformity (ASD) has given precedence to scrutinize the value and utility it provides.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study looked at whether a medicine called tranexamic acid (TXA) helps people lose less blood during complicated spine surgeries and if it's safe for those who might have blood clot problems.
  • They checked the medical records of patients from 21 hospitals over a few years to see what happened after they had surgery with TXA.
  • The results showed that using TXA didn't seem to cause more blood clot issues in patients who were already at risk compared to those who weren't.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Study Design: Retrospective review of prospectively collected data.

Objective: To investigate the effect of lower extremity osteoarthritis on sagittal alignment and compensatory mechanisms in adult spinal deformity (ASD).

Background: Spine, hip, and knee pathologies often overlap in ASD patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background Context: Among adult spinal deformity (ASD) patients, heterogeneity in patient pathology, surgical expectations, baseline impairments, and frailty complicates comparisons in clinical outcomes and research. This study aims to qualitatively segment ASD patients using machine learning-based clustering on a large, multicenter, prospectively gathered ASD cohort.

Purpose: To qualitatively segment adult spinal deformity patients using machine learning-based clustering on a large, multicenter, prospectively gathered cohort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the use of ChatGPT in neurosurgery, focusing on the accuracy and usefulness of AI-generated responses to common postsurgical questions.
  • A total of 1080 responses from different versions of ChatGPT were analyzed, revealing that while the answers were generally accurate, they were complex and not always rated as highly helpful by healthcare practitioners.
  • The findings suggest that even though ChatGPT-4.0 showed improvements in response quality, the AI's readability may make it challenging for patients to fully benefit from the information provided.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Study Design: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data.

Objective: Evaluate the impact of correcting normative segmental lordosis values on postoperative outcomes.

Background: Restoring lumbar lordosis magnitude is crucial in adult spinal deformity surgery, but the optimal location and segmental distribution remain unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Preoperative symptom severity in cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) can be variable. Radiomic signatures could provide an imaging biomarker for symptom severity in CSM. This study utilizes radiomic signatures of T1-weighted and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging images to correlate with preoperative symptom severity based on modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association (mJOA) scores for patients with CSM.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Tranexamic acid (TXA) has long been utilized in spine surgery and can be administered through intravenous (IV) and topical routes. Although, topical and IV administration of TXA are both effective in decreasing blood loss during spine surgery, complications like deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism have been reported with the use of intravenous TXA (ivTXA). These potential complications may be mitigated through the use of topical TXA (tTXA).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: The objective was to determine the degree of regional decompensation to pelvic tilt (PT) normalization after complex adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery.

Methods: Operative ASD patients with 1 year of PT measurements were included. Patients with normalized PT at baseline were excluded.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study compared adult cervical deformity (ACD) patients to those with adult thoracolumbar deformity (ATLD) to understand differences in frailty, disability, and comorbidities before surgery.
  • Findings showed that ACD patients generally had worse health metrics, including higher comorbidity scores and lower physical function ratings, and were more likely to be frail.
  • These differences in baseline health could explain the higher complication and mortality rates seen in ACD surgery cases and suggest the need for better preoperative care planning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Study Design: Retrospective review of prospectively collected data.

Objective: To analyze the impact of operative room (OR) time in adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery on patient outcomes.

Background: It is currently unknown if OR time in ASD patients matched for deformity severity and surgical invasiveness is associated with patient outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) can offer revolutionary advances in their application to the field of spine surgery. Within the past 5 years, novel applications of ML have assisted in surgical decision-making, intraoperative imaging and navigation, and optimization of clinical outcomes. ML has the capacity to address many different clinical needs and improve diagnostic and surgical techniques.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF