Back pain can often be debilitating and is one of the most common reasons people seek medical care or miss work. Back or spine surgery is often a solution, but when previous surgeries have not provided needed relief, patients may lose complete hope of living pain-free again. However, even when previous spine surgeries have not helped, there are still options available.

The UofL Health – Comprehensive Spine Center, part of the UofL Health – Brain & Spine Institute and UofL Physicians – Neurosurgery, provides highly-specialized, evidence-based, compassionate care for patients who continue to seek back pain relief after previous spinal surgeries and are in need of revision spine surgery. Specialized care is also provided through the center to adults with scoliosis and SI joint pain (sacroiliac joint dysfunction).

Treatments and services for such complex spine cases feature state-of-the-art and technologically advanced minimally invasive surgery, including Louisville’s only stereotactic radiosurgery, Cyberknife®. With minimally invasive surgery, patients experience less pain and have less blood loss. Patients also have decreased hospital and recovery times. 

The Spine Center is led by a team of board-certified neurosurgeons that are fellowship trained in complex spinal neurosurgery and spinal neuro-oncology and are faculty and research members of the University of Louisville Medical School. The academic connection to the University of Louisville Medical School and its leading research in neurosurgery ensures that the Spine Center will continue to provide expert care with cutting-edge treatments and services.    

Understanding that surgery may not be the end of a patient’s care journey and favoring a multidisciplinary approach to patient care, the spine center develops individualized comprehensive treatment plans for patients with physiatrists, neurology and pain specialists. 

Our back pain and back surgery program uses an innovative evidence-based approach with emphasis on the diagnostic accuracy of pain generators. Thus, often success can be achieved despite previous failed back surgeries.  

While the center specializes in revision spinal surgeries, it is also advancing the art of minimally invasive surgery including neuroendoscopic microdiscectomy, the most minimally invasive microdiscectomy approach.

The center performs innovative research in spinal cord injury and maintains several databases for spine surgery outcomes research and participates in the National Neurosurgery Quality and Outcomes Database (N2QOD).

Diseases & Conditions

The UofL Health – Comprehensive Spine Center treats conditions such as:

  • Chronic back pain
  • Failed back surgery
  • Lumbar disk herniation
  • Sacroiliac joint dysfunction (SI Joint Pain)
  • Scoliosis
  • Spinal cord tumor
  • Spinal cord injury
  • Syringomyelia
  • Spinal metastases
  • Primary spine tumors
  • Spinal stenosis
  • Spondylolisthesis
  • Spinal cysts
  • Spinal kyphosis
  • Spinal infection
  • Compression fractures
  • Spine trauma
  • Degenerative disc disease
  • Spinal osteomyelitis
  • Spinal abscess
  • Postlaminectomy syndrome
  • Kyphosis
  • Myelopathy
  • Radiculopathy
  • Sciatica

Treatments & Services

As part of their expert care delivered with compassion and excellence, the UofL Health – Comprehensive Spine Center provides the following treatments and services for complex spinal cases:

  • Artificial disk
  • Brainlab Airo® Mobile Intraoperative CT
  • Complex spinal surgery
  • CyberKnife® (stereotactic radiosurgery) 
  • Spinal decompression 
  • Spinal fusion
  • Minimally invasive spine surgery 
  • Neuroendoscopic microdiscectomy
  • Spinal Endoscopy
  • Kyphoplasty 
  • Revision spinal surgery
  • Spinal cord stimulator 
  • Radiofrequency ablation
  • Spinal injections 
  • Spinal rehab
  • Cervical arthroplasty
  • Laminectomy 
  • Foraminotomy 
  • Microdiscectomy 
  • Discectomy

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