Spine Surgery

Bernhard Meyer was born in Augsburg, Germany in 1962. He spent two years at the University of Padova Medical School, Italy before completing his medical degree at the University of Erlangen, Germany in 1989. During this time he completed a sub-internship at Northwestern University, Chicago and SUNY at Brooklyn, NY, USA. He completed his neurosurgery internship and residency in Germany at the University of Tübingen and City Hospital of Duisburg, respectively. He was then a visiting neurosurgery resident at the University of Zürich, Switzerland and Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ, USA. He received Board Certification as a Neurosurgeon from the Regional Chamber of Physicians of Northrhine-Westfalia, Düsseldorf Germany in 1995. Since then, he has worked at the University of Bonn and then the Technical University of Munich, where he is now a Full Professor. He is Chairman of the Spine Section of EANS, Past-President of the German Academy of Neurosurgery and President of the International Group for the Advancement of Spinal Surgery. He will be President of the German Spine Society in 2019. Michael Rauschmann was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1963. He is currently Head of the Department of Spine and Reconstructive Surgery at the Spinal Orthopedics and Reconstructive Orthopedics Clinic, Offenbach am Main, Germany. He studied medicine at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University from 1986-1992, having previously completed military service and trained as a car mechanic. He trained in trauma and general surgery in Durban, South Africa, and at the Nordwest Hospital in Frankfurt. He became a specialist in orthopedics in 1998, a specialist in orthopedics and trauma surgery in 2007, and in 1992 he completed his doctor of medicine with the dissertation 'Morphology of the head at the spotted Dolphin Stenella attenuata with special consideration of the cranial nerves. Macroscopic preparation and modern imaging techniques.' In 2005 he completed his postdoctoral qualification with the thesis 'Hydroxyapatite/calcium sulphate form body as absorbable carrier individual local antibiotic therapy of acute and chronic bone infections'. Since 2000 he has worked as a consultant and was Head of the Department of Spine Surgery from 2006 until 2017. He became a Professor in 2010 and President of German Spine Society in 2015. He has published several German-language books on spine surgery.

“The book is written for trainees, but it serves well as a reference for seasoned attendings looking for in‐depth knowledge of a certain topic. It certainly meets and exceeds the expectations for the intended audience. … This is a high‐quality publication that deserves a spot on everyone's bookshelf.  It is very useful to trainees who wish to understand the decision‐making process and algorithms for most spinal pathology.” (Cristian Gragnaniello, Doody's Book Reviews, August 02, 2019)

• Part 1: Basics and Conservative Therapy.- Psychosomatics/behaviour therapy.-Indications for emergency treatment.- Part 2: Surgical treatment of degenerative cervical, thoracic and lumbar spinal pathologies.- Anterior cervical sub-axial treatment (fusion).- Cervical motion preserving procedures (TDR).- Posterior motion preserving procedures (Frykholm, laminoplasty).- Cervical myelopathy: indication and operative procedure.- Thoracic disc herniation and myelopathy.- Lumbar disc herniation, nucleo-and sequestrectomy.- Lumbar spinal stenosis.- Degenerative spondylolisthesis.- Slipped vertebra and degenerative lumbar scoliosis.- Lumbar non-fusion techniques.- Surgical treatment options at the sacroiliac joint.- Navigation in cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine.- Part 3: Deformity.- Diagnosis and conservativetreatment of AIS.- Operative treatment of AIS.- Congenital and neuromuscular scoliosis.- Adult scoliosis and complication management.-  Conservative treatment options and indication for surgery in spondylolisthesis.- Operative treatment of spondylolisthesis.- Parameters of spinopelvic balance, etiology and pathogenesis of disturbed spinopelvic balance.- Diagnosis, classification, and general treatment options in hyperkyphosis.- Scheuermann Disease and M. Bechterew.- Surgical correction and special features in traumatic and congenital kyphotic deformities.- Part 4: Spinal fractures.-  Pre-hospital management, physical examination, polytrauma management.- Upper cervical trauma (C0-C2).- Subaxial cervical trauma (C2 – C7).- Management criteria for thoracic, thoracolumbar and lumbar fractures.- Conservative management of spinal fractures.-  Sacral fractures.- Pediatric spine injuries.- Spine injuries in the elderly.- Injuries in ankylosed spine condition.- Part 5: Tumors of spine and inflammatory diseases.-  Vertebral osteomyelitis.- Rheumatic diseases.- Metabolic bone diseases.- Primary tumors.- Metastases.- Part 6: Intradural pathologies.-  Vascular malformations: arteriovenous malformations (AVMs)/Cavernoma, spinal dAVFs.- Inflammation of spinal cord (myelitis).- Intradural, extramedullary tumors.- Intradural, intramedullary tumors.- Dysraphia, tethered cord, segmentation disorders.- Syringomyelia, sacral cysts.- Spinal cord injury - classification and diagnostics.- Spinal cord injury - surgical and pharmaceutical therapy.- Spontaneous CSF leak and ideopathic spinal cord herniation.- Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring.- Management of intraoperative dural tear.- Therapy of chronic pain syndromes (pumps, DCS, DBS, CS).- Part  7: Extended indications and advanced operative techniques.- Craniocervical junction.- Basilar invagination.- Cervicothoracic junction.- Kyphosis in ankylosing spondylitis.- Thoracic spine.- Primary bone tumor.- Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS).- Lumbar degenerative scoliosis.- Adult degenerative scoliosis.- Long vs short contructs.- High-grade lumbar spondylolisthesis.-  Spondyloptosis.- Sacrum.- Intradural tumors.- Oligosymptomatic intramedullary lesion.- Part 8: Revisions and complication management.- Positioning of the patient and related complications.- Postlaminectomy kyphosis.- Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (epidural scar).- Adjacent segment degeneration.- Management of post-op infections.- Pseudoarthrosis management (case with implant failure).- Coronal decompensation.- Proximal junctional kyphosis.- Blood management and thromboprophylaxis in spinal surgery.- Management of failure of osteoporotic fixation.- Visceral complications of deformity surgery (pulmonary, esophageal injury or chylothorax).- Revision of adult deformity.- Iatrogenic neurologic injury.- Management of CSF fistula.- Management of mechanical failure of cervical spine.- Pitfalls of anterior lumbar revision surgery (vasculary or uretheral injury).