Dear Spine Surgeons and Researchers,

The editorial board of Neurospine is pleased to announce that the current issue (Sep. 2018) presents new intellectual advances in spine research. The current issue highlights cutting-edge debates in spine surgery, such as the diagnosis of pseudoarthrosis, the use of cell savers in metastatic tumor surgery, and the cost-effectiveness of robot-assisted spine surgery, as well as other topics of ongoing discussion.

As an acknowledgment of your interest, and in the spirit of time-saving, we briefly summarize the content of the featured articles below.

Pseudoarthrosis is considered one of the most disastrous complications in spine surgery. In this issue of Neurospine, we publish an invited review article written by Dr. Wenbo Lin and Dr. Daniel Riew (New York, USA), entitled “Diagnosing Pseudoarthrosis After Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.” In this article, based on a literature review, the authors suggest the most appropriate diagnostic criteria of pseudoarthrosis using postoperative X-ray and computed tomographic scans.

Naresh Kumar et al. (Singapore) wrote a review article entitled “Current Status of the Use of Salvaged Blood in Metastatic Spine Tumor Surgery.” This paper supports the use of salvaged blood from a cell saver in conjunction with a leukocyte depletion filter, reporting that doing so decreased the risk of postoperative infections and tumor recurrence.

Richard Philip Menger et al. (Shreveport, USA) wrote a study entitled “A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of the Integration of Robotic Spine Technology in Spine Surgery.” This article suggests that the implementation of robotic spine surgery was cost-effective, resulting in less revision surgery, lower infection rates, a reduced length of stay, and a shorter operative time.

Yunsuk Her et al. (Chuncheon, Korea) published an article entitled “Factors Associated With Longer Postoperative Outpatient Follow-up Duration in Patients With Single Lumbar Disc Herniation.” This study provides evidence that female sex, old age, and traffic accident insurance were associated with a longer postoperative follow-up period.

Li-Yu Fay at al. (Taipei, Taiwan) wrote an article entitled “A Hybrid Dynamic Stabilization and Fusion System in Multilevel Lumbar Spondylosis.” This study provides evidence that hybrid dynamic stabilization was beneficial for preventing adjacent segment degeneration.

Gheorghe Ungureanu et al. (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) published an article entitled “Gender Differences in the Self-assessment of Quality of Life and Disability After Spinal Fusion for Chronic Low Back Pain at a Neurosurgical Center in Eastern Europe.” This report suggests that men and women placed different importance on specific aspects of their overall quality of life.

The Neurospine editorial board would like to receive your feedback and comments about future directions. We will engage in editorial work jointly with our readers.

Yoon Ha, MD, PhD
Editor in Chief, Neurospine

Shih-Huang Tai MD, PhD
Deputy Editor

Makoto Taniguchi MD, PhD
Deputy Editor