From textbooks to podcasts, here is the content three spine surgeons recommend for others in the field.
Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. Becker's invites all spine surgeon and specialist responses.
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Please send responses to Carly Behm at cbehm@beckershealthcare.com by 5 p.m. CST Wednesday, May 29.
Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What is an essential read for all spine surgeons?
Neel Anand, MD. Cedars-Sinai Spine Center (Los Angeles): An essential read for all spine surgeons should be the "Gray's Anatomy The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice – 42nd Edition," as it is the foundational basis and gold standard of any surgery and for every surgeon. I am also extremely proud to have contributed to it as one of its two editors.
Brian Gantwerker, MD. The Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles: I prefer podcasts and the one I prefer is "This American Life." It is a great listen and is well-made and almost always is thought-provoking. The best part is that it has nothing to do with medicine or making money. It reminds me to be a person and have a life outside of the job. Our experiences dictate who we are and how families see us, and it's important to not be obsessed with the wrong things.
Christian Zimmerman, MD. St. Alphonsus Medical Group and SAHS Neuroscience Institute (Boise, Idaho): The two foremost texts in spinal disease, comprehension of spinal stability and forward application to most complex disease processes are "Clinical Biomechanics of the Spine" by White and Panjabi, and Denis' writings on the "The three-column spine and its significance in the classification of acute thoracolumbar spinal injuries."
White and Panjabi proposed a checklist point system to assess spinal stability for each of the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spines. This remains one of the best recognized systems to date and levied many mutual arguments and turf battles in training and thenceforth during this author's career. Denis, on the other hand, proposed that spinal integrity depended on the three-column system (anterior, middle and posterior) and used it to describe thoracolumbar fractures. The spine is considered unstable when any two of the three columns are disrupted. These two classification systems are designed for traumatic injuries and lend incredible credence and application to the science of complex spinal disease and its many potential pathos.