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 Comprehensive 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 School of Medicine. The connection to the University of Louisville School of Medicine and its leading research in neurosurgery ensures that the Spine Center will continue to provide expert care with cutting-edge treatments and services.

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.

What is Multidisciplinary Care?

Understanding that surgery may not be the end of a patient’s care, the Comprehensive Spine Center develops individualized comprehensive treatment plans for patients with physiatrists, neurology and pain specialists.

Utilizing a multidisciplinary approach, our team of providers collaborate on the most effective plan of care for your specific condition. A meeting or “conference” with the specialists involved in your care takes place to discuss aspects of treatment and follow up from the perspective of each medical discipline. We believe this individualized approach takes personalized care to the highest level – and provides the best possible outcomes.

A multidisciplinary clinic gives patients access to the care they need from a variety of medical specialists in one convenient location. Not only does the multidisciplinary clinic allow for patient convenience, but it also brings providers together to collaborate on the best care for each patient’s special needs.

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

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.

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).