Dr. Melamed Featured in Becker’s Spine Review Article, ‘5 Spine Surgeons Discuss Spine Surgery Trends in 2014′

Written by Anuja Vaidya | Becker’s Orthopedic, Spine & Pain Management

Five spine surgeons discuss trends in spine surgery and the industry that will gain traction in the coming year.

Hooman Melamed, MD, Orthopedic Spine Surgeon, DISC Sports & Spine Center, Marina del Rey, Calif.: Given all the recent changes in healthcare and more pressure to cut costs, [it is] more likely [that] more surgeries will be done with more traditional bone grafts such as iliac crest and cadaver bone with bone marrow aspirates rather than much more expensive bone substitutes and other commercial bone grafts.

The other issue to examine is the financial cost, saftey and overall patient outcome of minimally invasive correction of scoliosis versus more of traditional open correction. We need more data to determine which option is in the best interest of patient’s quality of care.