The Radiological Society of North America has announced its latest AI competition, the RSNA Cervical Spine Fracture AI Challenge, which will award $30,000 between 10 entrants that create accurate machine learning models. 

Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C., has rescheduled 26 surgeries, including spine cases, over the next week that would have required an overnight stay, NBC affiliate WECT reported July 28.

A San Antonio surgeon is being sued by an insurer over allegations he performed medically unnecessary spinal injections and procedures to inflate personal injury claims, according to a lawsuit filed July 26 in the Western District Court of Texas.

Urmil Gupta, wife of late neurosurgeon Surinder Gupta, MD, donated $100,000 to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock to create an award for neurosurgery residents in her husband's honor. 

Wilson Asfora, MD, a former neurosurgeon with Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health, was reprimanded by the state medical board for failing to disclose his medical license renewal was denied in Florida, the Argus Leader reported July 27.

A Cape Girardeau, Mo.-based neurosurgeon and his then-fiancee who were fined nearly $5.5 million in a kickback case will face a new False Claims Act trial after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Missouri ruled the jury that awarded damages didn't get full instructions, the Southeast Missourian reported July 27.

Synchron, a medtech company developing a brain implant, completed its first patient case in a U.S. trial.

U.S. News & World Report released its "Best Hospitals for Neurology & Neurosurgery" 2022-23 list July 26, with NYU Langone Hospitals taking the top spot.

Spinal device start-up Sure Retractors named Daniel Kosh to its board of directors, effective immediately.  

The first awake spinal fusion with Wenzel Spine's VariLift-LX interbody implant has been completed, the company said in a July 21 news release. 

The costs of spinal disc replacement can be expensive nationwide. 

Spine surgery bundled payments are more challenging to navigate than similar value-based arrangements in total joint replacement because of the wide variation of surgeries, the approaches and levels that may be operated on in any given diagnosis, as well as the significant cost differences in inpatient versus outpatient settings.

Woojin Cho, MD, a former attending orthopedic surgeon and chief of research at Montefiore Hospital in New York City, was sentenced on July 19 to nine months in prison for sexually abusing a patient who had gone to him for an appointment.

Patients who receive spinal anesthesia for hip fractures need more painkillers following procedures, according to a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine June 14. 

Justin Cetas, MD, PhD, chair of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, died July 13 after a motorcycle collision with a tow truck, according to ABC affiliate KGUN.

The American Orthopaedic Association has named spine surgeon Alexander Ghanayem, MD, as second president-elect during its annual leadership meeting in June.

The spinal cord stimulator market is expected to reach $3.27 billion in value by 2027, according to a July 13 report from the Digital Journal. 

From an increasingly demanding spine patient population to payers too often dictating care and a potential overreliance on enabling technologies, five spine leaders outline some of the biggest challenges facing the specialty.

A new Johns Hopkins Medicine study published in the July issue of Spine Deformity found that patients who undergo adult spinal deformity operations and use opioids for four or more years before surgery have higher odds of relying on post-surgery opioids chronically. 

From risk-sharing payment models to increased scrutiny placed on hospital surgeons and expanded data collection and integration, six surgeons predict how the specialty will change as healthcare shifts from a fee-for-service model toward value-based care.