Back Talk | A Comprehensive Review and Practical
Approach to Spinal Diagnosis and Treatment
One challenge to physicians is ongoing back pain following spine surgery. This 
session will provide attendees a better understanding of failed back syndrome / post-laminectomy syndrome.
During this continuing medical education session during the Back Talk spine symposium, speakers will discuss the contributing factors and causes of failed back syndrome. Additionally, the medical and interventional treatments for failed back syndrome will be reviewed – their indications and expected outcomes. One treatment that will be discussed is spinal cord stimulators. Indications for salvageable spine surgery and the outcome predictors will be reviewed.
Faculty for this continuing medical education session includes minimally invasive spine specialist Jonathan Gentile, MD, and spine surgeon Thomas Reilly, MD, FACS.
This blog entry highlights the services of one of the silver sponsors of Back Talk - Indiana Spine Group's fifth annual continuing medical education spine symposium.
Northwest Radiology Network (NWR) is one of the largest physician owned radiology 
practices in Indiana and has been providing diagnostic imaging services for more than 40 years. NWR was formed in 1967, with a goal of providing Indianapolis with the latest, most convenient diagnostic imaging services at an affordable price. NWR has 49 board certified, sub-specialized radiologists. Their areas of sub-specialties are body imaging, musculoskeletal imaging, breast imaging, interventional radiology, neurointerventional radiology, neuroradiology, pediatric radiology, positron emission tomography (PET), and nuclear medicine. The sub-specialization of NWR radiologists differs from other radiology practices that may require their radiologists to interpret radiographs across the board. NWR's mission is to provide high quality patient care in a cost effective, efficient environment. The physicians and staff of Northwest Radiology Network are committed to compassionate patient care, accurate results, and timely interpretations.
NWR has three free-standing, multi-modality imaging centers, and interprets images for 16 hospitals and 17 outside imaging facilities throughout the state of Indiana. Free-standing imaging centers include:
- Northwest Radiology at 10603 N. Meridian Street
- Northwest Radiology at 8260 Naab Road
- Meridian North Imaging Center at 12188-A N. Meridian Street
NWR's mammography facilities are certified by the FDA, as well as accredited by the American College of Radiology (ACR). They are ACR accredited in MRI, Ultrasonography, CT, Nuclear Medicine, and PET-CT. In addition to all of these services, Northwest Radiology now has another NWR…NightWatchRadiology®, which is a
Teleradiology service that can accommodate providers nationwide. NightWatchRadiology® is Northwest Radiology Network’s answer to 24-7-365 imaging services. Images and reports are available to registered referring physicians for viewing in real-time online, with STAT reporting to physicians/hospitals upon request. Referring physicians may also consult with NWR physicians at any time 24-7-365 through their Imaging Assistant service by calling NWR at 1-800-400 XRAY (9729) - Option 5.
For more information about Northwest Radiology Network, call 1-800-400-9729.
Congratulations! Jonathan P. Gentile, MD, was elected president of the Indiana S
ociety of Interventional Pain Practitioners. He will serve a two-year term. beginning in 2011. Dr. Gentile is a minimally invasive spine specialist with Indiana Spine Group.
On September 10 and 11, Indiana Spine Group hosted their fourth annual spine symposium, Back Talk | Comprehensive Concepts in Spinal Disorders and Abnormalities. This conference addressed an ongoing major medical issue – back pain. Recent studies conducted indicates that one out of three Americans suffer from back pain nearly 
every day, and back pain continues to be one of the main reasons patients seek medical care.
This continuing medical education conference brought together experts in spine care, including interventional spine, spine surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, rheumatology, chiropractic and more. Attendees learned the latest on spinal diagnosis, and the treatment of spinal disorders and abnormalities.
If you did not receive information about the 2010 Back Talk symposium, and would like to be added to our mailing list for future continuing medical education conferences, please send your contact information to info@indianaspinegroup.com.
Another session at Back Talk, the continuing medical education symposium for physicians and health care practitioners will address the failed back. Sometimes called failed back syndrome, failed back surgery or post-laminectomy syndrome – these patients continue to have ongoing back pain following spine surgery.
This session will be presented by minimally invasive spine specialists Jonathan Gentile, MD, and John Arbuckle, MD, and spine surgeon Paul Kraemer, MD. With Indiana Spine Group, these physicians treat patients at our offices located on the north side of Indianapolis.
During this continuing medical education session, the tools for physicians and health care practitioners to perform a diagnostic assessment of patients with chronic back pain following spine surgery will be highlighted. This diagnostic assessment will help caregivers to understand the underlying causes of ongoing back pain, and the mechanism of failed back. Additionally, medical and interventional treatments for failed back will be discussed – their indications and expected outcomes.
One unique session for “Back Talk”, the continuing medical education symposium sponsored by Indiana Spine Group, will feature a hands-on component. During this session, entitled Hands-On | Surgical Case Studies, attendees will have the opportunity to get a first-hand look at spinal instrumentation, cervical artificial disc implants and other surgical devices used during spine surgery. Spine surgeons Kenneth Renkens, MD, and Thomas Reilly, MD, will lead this discussion. As they review the technology, they will discuss spine surgery case studies including diagnoses, recommended surgical interventions and expected outcomes.
For more information about Back Talk, and a complete continuing medical education conference agenda, click here.
A second concurrent session at Back Talk, the continuing medical education symposium will focus on spinal fractures and the treatment options for spinal fractures. With the aging population, the incidence of age-specific spinal fractures is expected to increase. One study estimated that vertebral compression fractures 
affects 25% of post-menopausal women.
This session will be presented by Kevin Macadaeg, MD, a minimally invasive spine specialist with Indiana Spine Group. At this session, he will discuss:
- How to recognize the symptoms, assess and diagnose osteoporotic spinal fractures.
- Discuss the indications for medical management and interventional therapies.
- Highlight vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty for the treatment of vertebral compression fractures.
- Review the indications and treatment of sacroplasty for sacral fractures.
One of the videos on the updated educational resource section of Indiana Spine Group’s web site is about back pain. In this video, minimally interventional spine specialist John Arbuckle, MD, defines 
spinal/back pain, and he provides an overview of diagnosing back pain and treatment. To view this spine wellness education video on spinal / back pain, click here.
In September, Indiana Spine Group is sponsoring a continuing medical education symposium entitled “BACK TALK: Comprehensive Concepts in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Spinal Disorders”. At this conference I will be providing a few talks – one is on spine surgery; specific to the cervical spine surgery patient. The other talk is on the future of spine care.
During the cervical spine surgery talk, I will be discussing the cervical pathology and diagnoses indicative for spine surgery – both degenerative and traumatic. Additionally, I will discuss common cervical spine surgical procedures, their indications and expected outcomes.
In the talk about the future of spine care – I will review the latest FDA-approved technologies and treatments. Additionally, I will discuss interventional and surgical innovations that are either in development or clinical trials. Additionally, this presentation will provide highlights about the cervical artificial discs; i.e. the Prestige™ artificial disc and the Bryan™ artificial disc.
Another sponsor for Back Talk, Indiana Spine Group's continuing medical education symposium is Stryker Interventional Spine. Stryker Interventional Spine specializes in minimally invasive spine treatment options for the relief of chronic back pain. Stryker Interventional Spine provides physicians with a wide range of minimally invasive spine surgical tools. This includes spine surgical tools for radiofrequency, vertebroplasty, disc decompression and discography.
Vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive spine procedure that is used to treat vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) as a result of osteoporosis, trauma or tumors.
Discography is a procedure that is used to diagnose the the cause of back pain; and to identify which spinal disc(s) are involved.
Radiofrequency is a type of injection which utilizes an injection which involves heat – and the goal of this interventional pain management procedure is to interrupt pain signals therefore eliminating back pain.
Disc Decompression is a spine surgical procedure that is performed to alleviate pinched nerves. The two common types of decompression spine surgical procedures are microdiscectomy and laminectomy.
To learn more about Stryker Interventional Spine, and their minimally invasive spine products visit their web site.
Dr. John Arbuckle, will give a presentation entitled "Minimially Invasive Spine Treatments". This presentation at our continuing medical education program for primary care physicians and practitioners, Back Talk, will address minimally invasive spine treatments. When medical and non-operative treatment options are ineffective or not a treatment option for back pain and spinal pr
oblems – interventional therapies may be a treatment option.
During this presentation Dr. John Arbuckle, a minimally invasive spine specialist with Indiana Spine Group, will highlight the different minimally invasive treatment options. He will discuss the indications and efficacy of these treatment options; including IDET, epidural steroid injections and rhizotomy.
An article on Spine Universe entitled “Post-Operative Care: Activity, Incision Care, Rehab and Recovery,” discusses the importance of planning on post-operative care, prior to spine surgery. This article outlines the expectations immediately following spine surgery, and answers frequently asked questions by the patient and the family; i.e. recovery room, anesthesia and waking up and pain management.
Part two of this article addresses other key post-operative spine surgical care issues such as physical therapy and rehab, surgical incisions and hospital discharge.
This article was reviewed by Indiana Spine Group spine surgeon, Rick Sasso, MD. Dr. Sasso thought that this was a good resource for patients that are scheduled for spine surgery and that it is important for patients to be aware of the routine post-operative steps following spine surgery.
In this study, patients diagnosed with cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy that required surgical intervention were randomly selected. Patients either had cervical artificial disc (Bryan artificial disc) or anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. The study then followed the patients for two-years to determine their functional outcome and radiographic results.
In summary, this study concluded that the Bryan artificial disc replacement was a comparable surgical alternative to an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion for patients suffering with 1-level cervical disc disease. (1-level is where only one of the spinal discs is affected). Following surgery, both groups showed improvement in their functional outcomes. In respect to the patient’s range of motion, at two-years – those patients that underwent the Bryan artificial disc replacement had a greater range of motion than those that underwent the anterior cervical discectomy and fusion. This study did demonstrate that the artificial disc replacement is a comparable procedure to the spinal fusion. Further studies are underway, to determine longer term results of this investigational device.
Another session on spinal therapeutics will focus on minimally invasive treatment options. For this session, Dr. John Arbuckle will provide an overview of the different treatment options and discuss their effectiveness. Dr. Arbuckle is a minimally invasive spine 
specialist with Indiana Spine Group.
Presentation objectives include:
· Review of back and neck diagnoses clinically appropriate for minimally interventional treatments.
· Guidelines, indications and efficacy for specific treatments, including spinal injections, percutaneous discectomy, radiofrequency rhizotomy, IDET and nucleoplasty.
On June 4, Indiana Spine Group will host a continuing medical education dinner on treatment options of the osteoporotic spine. Objectives of this session entitled, “A Current Review of Pharmacologic and Interventional Treatments of the Osteoporotic Spine”, includes:
- A review of the latest pharmacologic clinical guidelines for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.
- A discussion of treatment algorithms for the osteoporotic spine; including indications and outcomes of vertebral augmentation.
For more information about this program, please call 317.228.7000.
On June 18, Indiana Spine Group will be hosting a continuing medical education program/dinner for physicians. At this program, I will be speaking with John Arbuckle, MD and Jonathan Gentile, MD. (Drs. Arbuckle and Gentile are also minimally invasive spine specialists with Indiana Spine Group.) We will be providing, “A Current Review of Pharmacologic and Interventional Treatments for the Osteoporotic Spine”.
Topics that will be discussed include:
· A review of the latest pharmacologic clinical guidelines for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis.
- A discussion of treatment algorithms for the osteoporotic spine; including indications and outcomes of vertebral augmentation.
This continuing medical education dinner, sponsored by Stryker Interventional Pain, has been approved for AMA PRA Category I Credit.
For more information, please call 317.228.7000.
A minimally invasive spine specialist is a physician that specializes in the treatment of patients with spine disorders. The focus of their patient care is to diagnose the cause of the spine problem, and then to treat the specific cause of the problem which will usually alleviate the symptoms; i.e. back pain.
A physician who is a minimally invasive spine specialist is usually board-certified in anesthesia as well as pain management. Other terms used for this specialty include pain management, interventional spine specialist or minimally interventional spine specialist. Regardless of the term used, key is physician’s board certification.
At Indiana Spine Group, there are three board certified minimally invasive spine specialists. They are Kevin Macadaeg, MD, Jonathan Gentile, MD, and John Arbuckle, MD.
On Friday (August 22), there will be an in-depth review of spinal diagnostics. One session entitled, The Essentials of Diagnosing 
Spinal Pain will be presented by Kevin Macadaeg, MD. Dr. Macadaeg is a minimally invasive interventional spine specialist with Indiana Spine Group.
Neck and back pain are common symptoms of many underlying spinal problems. Key to diagnosing the cause of this pain is to have an understanding of the overall spinal mechanics and also what is “normal”, in respect to degenerative changes of the spine.
The objectives of this presentation include:
§ Define the normal aging process and common degenerative changes of the spine.
§ Identify common spinal problems that cause lower back and neck pain and key indicators for diagnosis.
§ Review the evidence-based guidelines for the diagnostic triage of lower back pain, including appropriateness and use of invasive diagnostic testing.
§ Identify the “yellow” and “red” flags that present as back pain.
A small certain percentage of patients that undergo back surgery / spine surgery; may continue to have chronic back pain and/or lower extremity pain following surgery, that is referred to as failed back syndrome. This is not an actual syndrome or medical diagnosis – but more a description of the symptoms. The technical term for this is post-laminectomy syndrome.
When medical management and other therapies are ineffective, one minimally invasive interventional pain management treatment for patients if they are suffering from both back pain and lower extremity pain is to implant a spinal cord stimulator. A spinal cord stimulator, also called a neurostimulator uses a tiny programmable generator and electrical leads/ electrodes placed underneath the skin. The electrodes are placed in the spinal canal, adjacent to the spinal cord. (Photo courtesy of Medtronic, Inc.)
To learn more, read this recent press release. This press release profiles a patient who had chronic back and lower extremity pain following back surgery. Now she enjoys ballroom dancing!
Indiana Spine Group is a center of excellence for the treatment of spinal disorders and abnormalities. Located in Indianapolis - with offices in Kokomo and Anderson, we provide comprehensive spine care – including interventional pain management treatments, nonsurgical spine treatments, minimally invasive spine procedures, minimally invasive spine surgery and spine surgery. Treating both adults and children, some common diagnoses that we treat include degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, herniated cervical disc, failed back syndrome, osteoporosis and scoliosis.
Physicians with Indiana Spine Group include:
§ Ken Renkens, MD (neurosurgical spine surgeon)
§ Rick Sasso, MD (spine surgeon)
§ Kevin Macadaeg, MD (minimally invasive spine specialist)
§ Thomas Reilly, MD (spine surgeon)
§ Jonathan Gentile, MD (minimally invasive spine specialist)
§ John Arbuckle, MD (minimally invasive spine specialist
Powered by Compendium