Rick Sasso, MD

Rick Sasso, MD, is spine surgeon and co-founder of Indiana Spine Group. Specializing in spine surgery, Dr. Sasso has dedicated his medical career to the comprehensive treatment and surgery of spinal disorders and abnormalities. Actively involved in spinal research, Dr. Sasso is a pioneer in the development of minimally invasive spine surgery techniques.  He is actively involved in many research studies, as well as the development of instrumentation technology used to treat spinal disorders.  Additionally, Dr. Sasso performed the first cervical artificial disc replacement surgery in the U.S.

Indiana Spine Group, is a Center of Excellence for comprehensive spine care.  Providing comprehensive diagnosis and treatment for all spinal disorders, our spine specialists are experts in using the most advanced diagnostic and treatment tools, with a focus on minimally invasive spine procedures.  Our comprehensive patient care team includes board-certified minimally invasive spine specialists and spine surgeons.

For more information,visit our website.

In the Fall 2011 Journal of the Spinal Research Foundation, three patients of mine, recipients of the Bryan Cervical Disc, were featured. The article describes their symptoms, diagnosis and participation in the clinical study. Being a part of the the clinical study and how the Bryan Cervical Disc changed their life, was also included. The importance of clinical studies and how they can improve the livelihood of our patients is the key component of the article. Please click the link and turn to page 56, to view the article.  www.spinerf.org/files/12.JSRFFall2011.pdf

The annual meeting of the Cervical Spine Research Society, was in early December and I had the opportunity to present on a number of clinical studies, they were as follows:

“The fate of a delayed union following an ACDF: A post-hoc analysis of data from a prospective, multicenter trial.” Cervical Spine Research Society 39^th Annual Meeting. Presented by Michael Kelly MD. December 9, 2011. Scottsdale, Arizona.

“Perioperative complication rates associated with surgical treatment based on a prospective multicenter study of 302 patients.” Cervical Spine Research Society 39^th Annual Meeting. Presented by Justin Smith MD. December 10, 2011. Scottsdale, Arizona.

“Impact of early and late complications on patient outcomes following surgical treatment of cervical spondylotic myelopathy based on a prospective multicenter study: The AO Spine North America CSM study.” Cervical Spine Research Society 39^th Annual Meeting. December 10, 2011. Scottsdale, Arizona.

“Long-term differences in dysphagia between cervical arthroplasty and anterior cervical fusion.” Cervical Spine Research Society 39^th Annual Meeting. Presented by Scott Bassuener MD. December 10, 2011. Scottsdale, Arizona.

Also during the meeting I served as a faculty member and took part in a debate forum wherein appropriate indications for anterior vs. posterior approaches for the surgical treatment of cervical radiculopathy were presented and discussed:

“Foraminotomy for spondylotic radiculopathy-Con.” Current controversies
in posterior cervical reconstruction.”

The Cervical Spine Research Society is a premier international society for the study of disorders of the cervical spine.

During the early part of December, I had the privilege of being a visiting professor at NYU. I lectured for the New York University Hospital Joint Division of Spine Surgery on the following topics: “Intraoperative Spinal Navigation” and “Upper Cervical Spine Trauma.”

Intraoperative Spinal Navigation is basically the GPS system in the operating room that allows us to see anatomical structures in 3 dimension on a computer screen and navigate or see our instruments in relation to anatomical structures.

The information given during the Upper Cervical Spine Trauma presentation included the diagnostic evaluation and treatment of upper cervical injuries for the occiput to C2.

In a prior blog entry, I highlighted a meeting the IMAST continuing education meeting that I participated in late this summer. (link to prior blog entry). At this meeting, a few talks/topics that I presented or facilitated discussion on included:

·         A paper that I co-authored on Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Study: Perioperative Complication Rates Associated with Surgical Treatment Based on a Prospective Multicenter Study of 302 Patients

·         At a debate on Multilevel Cervical Stenosis in the Straight Spine: Optimal Treatment, I presented the viewpoint of Anterior Decompression, Instrumentation and Fusion as the optimum spine surgical treatment.

·         I also moderated an instructional lecture on Options in Cervical Motion.

This November, a few chapters that I co-authored on spinal navigation were included in the Handbook of Spine Surgery published by Thieme Publishers. This book is a continuing medical education resource for spine surgeons. One chapter was on Spinal Navigation, which was included in the “Clinical Spine Surgery” section of the book. The other chapter in the “Surgical Techniques” section was on Facet Screw Fixation/Fusion.

This spine surgery educational book provides principles and techniques of spine surgery. Included in the book are sections on clinical spine anatomy, clinical spine surgery, spinal pathology and surgical techniques.

For more information or to order this spine surgical educational resource, visit this link.

Late this summer, I was a faculty member at a physician education meeting sponsored by the Scoliosis Research Society. This meeting was the 18^th International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST), held in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

This IMAST meeting includes spine surgeons who are leaders in the field of research and advance spine technologies, for all areas of the all areas of spine (cervical, thoracic, and lumbar), most spinal conditions (degenerative, trauma, deformity, tumor), and a variety of treatment techniques. It is an honor to be asked to participate.

         The continuing medical education objectives of this meeting were to:

·         Assess the most recent advances in surgical techniques for the treatment of spinal disorders and when to use them, in the interest of providing optimal patient care.

·         Analyze the indications and potential complications for various spine fixation systems including spinal arthroplasty.

·         Recognize emerging technology that has the potential to improve patient outcomes for specific indications and populations.

I recently co-authored a chapter on Cervical Arthroplasty. This chapter was included in the book Advanced Reconstruction: Spine edited by Jeffrey Wang and published by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and North American Spine Society.

This continuing medical education book highlights the way that spine surgeons handle complicated spine surgical cases. Chapters provide detailed step-by-step guidelines on spine surgical procedures. In addition to surgical guidelines for each procedure – this medical education resource also provides indications, contraindications, alternate treatment, results, surgical techniques and post operative information for the procedures.

In addition to the chapter on cervical arthroplasty, there are over 60 spine surgical procedures addressed. A few other spine surgical procedures in the book include Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion, Cervical Laminectomy and Fusion and Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion. To review the complete table of contents, visit this link.

For more information or to purchase this book, visit this link.

On a prior blog entry, I highlighted a few talks i facilitated at the annual continuing medical education meeting of the Lumbar Spine Research Society (LSRS). This society is dedicated to the sharing of scientific information related to the surgical management of disorders affecting the lumbar spine.

The mission of the Lumbar Spine Research Society is "Through the promotion and discussion of research, to advance our knowledge and understanding of the lumbar spine; its physiology, pathology, and treatment; in order to improve patient care."

For more information about this educational society, visit their web site at this link.

Earlier this year, I was asked to present at the fourth annual meeting of the Lumbar Spine Research Society.

At this meeting, held in Chicago, I facilitated the discussions on the following papers: 

• the “Functional Outcomes and Height Restoration For Patients With Multiple Myeloma–Related Osteolytic Vertebral Compression Fractures Treated With Kyphoplasty”
• “The  The Effect of the Alpha‐2 Agonist Brimonidine on Intraocular Pressure During Prone Spine Surgery”

In May, I had the honor of being an invited faculty member at the 4^th Annual Dubai Spine Masters continuing medical education program. This “Spine Trauma Masters Update” was held in Dubai, and included  spine surgeons from 70 different countries who are leaders in spinal trauma.

At this meeting, I lectured on the Rationale and Overview of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery in Spinal Trauma, and Balloon Assisted Endplate Reconstruction (BAER) for TL Burst Fractures. I also moderated a case discussion on thoracolumbar spine trauma.

In this blog, I included a picture of the Health Minister of the United Arab Emirates. At this meeting, he gave the opening address and welcomed the attendees.

In a few previous blogs, I wrote about recent presentations at one of the continuing medical education meetings of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). This blog will provide a little information about this organization.

The mission statement of the AANS is that the organization speaks for all neurosurgery and it is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to promote the highest quality of patient care.

While at the American Association of Neurological Surgeon’s continuing medical education meeting in Phoenix, in addition to being a faculty member for a course on cervical myelopathy (previously blogged about), I was also a co-author for other research presentations.

These podium presentations included:

• Factors Associated with the Occurrence of Perioperative Complications in the Treatment of Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Based on 302 Patients from the AOSpine North America Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Study

• Cervical Disc Replacement: Interim Five-year Follow-up Results from the United States Prospective Randomized Bryan Clinical Trial

• Functional and Quality of Life Outcomes in Geriatric Patients with Type II Odontoid Fracture: One-Year Results from the AOSpine North America Multi-Center GOF Prospective Study

 For more information about this meeting, visit this link.

This past spring I had the honor of presenting at the annual continuing medical education meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons / CNS Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves. The focus of this medical education meeting, held in Phoenix, was Evidence-Based Spine Surgery in the Real World.

At this medical education program I was a faculty member for a section on cervical myelopathy, and presented on Myelopathy at the CVJ. This course reviewed and discussed the evaluation and treatment algorithms of cervical myelopathy and discussed surgical approaches. Additionally, etiology, pathogenesis and diagnosis of cervical myelopathy were reviewed. A few of the continuing medical education objectives of this session are outlined below.


Participants will be able to:

•  Synthesize appropriate anatomy and biomechanics of the cervical spine.
•  Differentiate the methods for diagnosis of neck disorders.
•  Apply operative and non-operative treatment options for cervical spine       disorders. 
• Recognize and respond to complications of surgical treatment, and more.

I co-authored a book chapter on “Cervical Disc Replacement”, that has been recently published in Rothman Simeone The Spine – 6^th Edition.

The Spine is a continuing medical educational resource for spine surgeons and highlights state-of-the-art spine treatments and spine surgery techniques. In addition to the text, there is also a video resource for physicians highlighting different surgical techniques and procedures.

Some sections of this book include: Basic Science, Spinal Diagnosis, Surgical Anatomy and Approaches, Thoracic and Lumbar Disc Disease, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Spinal Stenosis, Spinal Fusion and Instrumentation and more. For more information about The Spine and a table of contents, visit this link.

I recently blogged about a new genetic test that predicts the likelihood of curve progression of patients diagnosed with mild adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) – the ScoliScore AIS Prognostic Test. 

Previously I did a series of blogs, defining scoliosis, reviewing scoliosis screening recommendations and treatment options (addressing bracing, and spine surgery).

Here are the links to those prior blogs:

            Scoliosis defined and general information 
Scoliosis screening guidelines 
Scoliosis treatment options 

Recently I was interviewed by Anne Marie Tiernon, health reporter from WTHR, about a new genetic test – ScoliScore AIS Prognostic Test. This new test predicts curve progression in patients diagnosed with mild adolescent scoliosis (AIS) with 99% accuracy.

This test measures patient’s saliva for specific DNA markers. Research has identified two genetic markers in patients with scoliosis. One DNA marker may predispose a patient to developing severe scoliosis (28 markers – progressive genes), and the other (25 markers – protective genes) may protect the patient from severe spinal curve progression. The ScoliScore analyzes these genetic markers and provides a score. The lower the score – the less risk of the patient’s curve progressing.

This test is indicated for Caucasian males or females who have been diagnosed with mild scoliosis, that are between the ages of 9 – 13. For a fact sheet on this test, visit this link. To see the WTHR news / spinal wellness story, visit this link.

This new test is available at Indiana Spine Group. For information, please call our office at (317) 228-7000.

In addition to the talks previously highlighted in prior blogs, I also gave a few talks on the cervical spine at the annual American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons continuing medical education meeting. One Instructional Course lecture, where I served as faculty, focused on the degenerative cervical spine and was entitled, “The Degenerative Cervical Spine: What You Need to Know”.  This talk focused on the evaluation and treatment options for the degenerative spine and it addressed anterior and posterior spine surgery options, as well as non-operative treatment options.

The other talk was a Podium Presentation of the research results for the five-year study of the Bryan Cervical Artificial Disc. This continuing medical education presentation was entitled, “Cervical Disc Replacement: Five Year Follow-up from the U.S. Prospective Randomized Bryan Trial”.  This link provides an overview of the initial results of this study – which followed spine surgery patients post-operatively for five years. Patients evaluated either underwent spinal fusion or arthroplasty (cervical artificial disc).

Recently I attended and presented at the annual continuing medical education conference of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). This meeting was held in San Diego in February. One of the things that I did for this meeting was to plan one of the educational symposiums. This symposium was on the current concepts of spine trauma. As a part of this continuing medical education session, I brought together leaders throughout the world on cervical spinal trauma to be a part of the panel.

This two hour symposium covered the initial assessment of spinal trauma, imaging, and clearing of cervical trauma, as well as spine surgical techniques and more. In addition to moderating this session, I also presented on occipitocervical injuries, including odontoid fractures. Concluding the program, were presentations of case studies with a discussion and debate that included audience participation.

For a complete listing of this educational conference, visit this link.

In addition to planning and coordinating the symposium on spinal trauma, previously addressed in a prior blog entry, at the annual American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons meeting I also served as faculty for Instructional Course lectures. One Instructional Course was entitled “Differentiating Cervical Spine and Shoulder Pathology: Common Disorders and Key Points of Evaluation and Treatment.” This continuing medical education talk focused on the overlap of cervical spine and shoulder pathology, and addressed the diagnostic methods for differentiation.  One of the co-presenters of this session was Paul Kraemer, MD. Dr. Kraemer is also a spine surgeon with Indiana Spine Group.