Description
This atlas brings together the commonly used techniques for spine surgery. We have made the decision to limit the techniques to those that are established and appear to stand the test of time. This atlas emanated from the frustrations of our residents, fel lows, and postgraduate spine surgery visitors in being able to find illustrated tech niques for the many different spinal procedures currently available. It required re searching a dozen textbooks and an equal number of scientific articles to locate drawings related to these procedures. Therefore, it seemed only a matter of common sense to pull them together into one resource. No attempt has been made to delve into the historic origins of any given procedures, and for this reason, we have chosen not to list any bibliography.
Spinal instrumentation is an area that is in an enormous state of flux, with new sys tems being added almost monthly. Consequently, we have chosen to illustrate instru mentation that is used on a daily basis in our practice, has stood the test of time, and represents the basic principles that will remain true regardless of more minor changes in instrument design. For example, in the section on the lumbar spine deal ing with internal fixation using pedicle screws, we have chosen to portray a generic screw insertion so as to not favor one implant over another. It is clearly obvious that whichever pedicle screw device is used, it may fail if the surgeon does not find and insert the pedicle screws properly.
Furthermore, this is an atlas and not a textbook. It is beyond the scope of this book to discuss the indications or contraindications for any given operative procedure. It is understood that the surgeon will use intelligence, common sense, and the widespread published literature both in textbooks and scientific articles that deals with indica tions and contraindications for any given procedure.
There are many people to thank for this book. All of us owe a great debt of grati tude to Andy Grivas, our medical illustrator, for his tremendous skills. To Lynn Gilsrud, we owe great thanks for her manuscript typing and the endless redrafts and revisions that can be so frustrating. To the staff of W. B. Saunders, our thanks for their production of a high-quality book.
Finally, this book is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Aydin Bilgutay, a thoracic sur geon with whom we worked for many, many years. His early and untimely death from cancer not only kept him from significant participation in the writing of the sec tion on anterior exposures, but also denied us the enormous clinical skills of this
wonderful surgeon. We miss him greatly.
ROBERT B. WINTER
JOHN E. LONSTEIN
FRANCIS DENIS
MICHAEL D. SMITH
ISBN: 9780721629582
