​Spine Surgery Services

The Department of Orthopaedic Surgery is discovering more and more ways to treat the spine and save spinal cord and nerve function.

A leader in the area of spine surgery, UPMC orthopaedic surgeons perform more than 1,500 spine surgeries each year to treat spine, neck, and back conditions.

Our comprehensive, multidisciplinary care model offers support services from all areas — from a Level I Trauma Center to referral to physical therapy and rehabilitation.

And, because our surgeons are fellowship-trained in the area of spine surgery with many years of experience, they perform numerous corrective measures on some of the most challenging cases.

Researching the Future in Spine Surgery

Our groundbreaking team is consistently uncovering new knowledge and breakthroughs. They have received national and international awards for their work. Areas of focus include:

• Reversing disc generation
• Cellular growth
• Gene therapy of the discs
• The biochemical make-up of the spine
• Cervical and lumber biomechanics
  

Our orthopaedic surgeons are experts in treating everything from complex traumatic injuries, to back surgeries for chronic pain, and congenital (inherited) and acquired (not genetic o r inherited) spinal conditions.

If left untreated, these conditions can lead to back pain, leg pain, numbness, loss of movement (mobility), and more.

Conditions we treat include:

• Ankylosing spondylitis — a chronic inflammatory disease that causes arthritis of the spine and hips
• Cranial settling or basilar invagination — a rare condition in which the second vertebrae moves upward and can cause the opening in the skull where the spinal cord passes through to the brain to close
• Chordoma — a type of malignant bone tumor
• Curvature of the spine
• Degenerative disc disease (DDD) and other degenerative conditions
• Facet joint or spinal osteoarthritis
• Kyphosis — a type of curving of the spine
• Low back pain
• Myelopathy — spinal cord injury and inflammation
• Neck pain
• Primary and secondary (metastic) tumors
• Ruptured and herniated discs
• Scoliosis — curvature of the spine
• Spinal cord trauma
• Spinal cord tumors
• Spinal dysraphism — a group of congenital malformations of the spine
• Spinal fractures
• Spinal stenosis — narrowing of the spinal column that causes pressure on the spinal cord
• Spondylolisthesis — displaced vertebrae
• Spondylosis — a type of degenerative osteoarthritis
• Thoracic disc herniations and injuries

Our primary goal is to offer the safest, most effective treatments available. We work to develop new ways to deliver treatments that are less invasive and require less recovery.

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

UPMC’s orthopaedic surgeons are committed to using minimally invasive techniques, where appropriate, to treat a variety of spine, neck, and back conditions, such as:

• Herniated discs
• Spinal deformities
• Compression fractures
• Degenerative disc disease (DDD)

A Broad Spectrum of Treatment Options

Our spinal surgery experts offer a long list of treatments, including:

• Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion — to treat spinal compression
• Anterior lumbar interbody fusion — treatment for lower back pain for degenerative spine conditions
• Cervical and lumbar disc replacement
• Cervical foraminotomy — relieves nerve pressure in the cervical area
• Complex spinal reconstruction
• Comprehensive physical therapy programs
• Epidural (spinal) steroid injections
• Facet injections (long-lasting steroid injections)
• Kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty — for back compression fractures
• Lumbar microdiscectomy — relieves leg and lower back pain by removing a small piece of bone that presses on the nerve
• Minimally invasive spine surgery
• Referral to specialists for nerve blocks, pain pumps, or spinal cord stimulators
• Spinal deformity correction
• Spinal fusion  
• Surgery revisions and corrections