{"id":"2f0d3892-23bf-4adb-bd99-ec8501cebe02","slug":"neurosurgery-versus-orthopedic-surgery-who-has-better-access-to-minimally-invasive-spinal-technology","title":"Neurosurgery versus orthopedic surgery: Who has better access to minimally invasive spinal technology?","authors":["Alfredo José Guiroy","Matias Pereira Duarte","Juan Pablo Cabrera","Nicolás Coombes","Martin Gagliardi","Alberto Gotfryd","Charles Carazzo","Nestor Taboada","Asdrubal Falavigna"],"abstract":"Background: Our aim was to evaluate differences in neurosurgeons versus orthopedists access to technologies needed to perform minimally invasive spine surgeries (MISS) in Latin America. Methods: We sent a survey to members of AO Spine Latin America (January 2020), and assessed the following variables; nationality, level of hospital (primary, secondary, and tertiary), number of spinal operations performed per year, spinal pathologies addressed, the number of minimally invasive spine operations performed/year, and differences in access to MISS spinal technology between neurosurgeons and orthopedists. Results: Responses were returned from 306 (25.6) members of AO Spine Latin America representing 20 different countries; 57.8% of respondents were orthopedic surgeons and 42.4% had over 10 years of experience. Although both specialties reported a lack of access to most of the technologies, the main difference between the two was greater utilization/access of neurosurgeons to operating microscope (e.g., 84% of the neurosurgeons vs. 39% of orthopedic spine surgeons). Conclusion: Although both specialties have limited access to MISS spinal technologies, orthopedic spine surgeons reported significantly lower access to operating microscopes versus neurosurgeons (P < 0.01).","thumbnailUrl":"https://sni-digital-videos.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/2f0d3892-23bf-4adb-bd99-ec8501cebe02/featured/hero-1781562984149.png","publishDate":"2020-11-11T00:00:00.000Z","doi":"10.25259/SNI_600_2020","categories":["Spine","Technical Note"],"fullTextUrl":"https://surgicalneurologyint.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/10388/SNI-11-385.pdf"}