Podcast: Early Intervention and Innovation in Spine Surgery with Dr. Michael Wang
What happens to spine patients who are in pain but aren’t candidates for traditional surgery? Dr. Michael Wang joins Dean Ford to discuss early intervention in spine surgery.
For decades, spine surgeons largely waited until a patient’s condition becomes severe enough to justify an invasive operation. But what happens to patients, particularly younger patients, who are in pain and need relief, yet aren’t candidates for traditional surgery?
In the latest episode of Inside U Miami Medicine, Dean Henri Ford welcomes Michael Wang, M.D., M.B.A., professor of neurological surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, back to the podcast to explore a new approach to spine care and the technologies that could change when and how patients are treated.
Dr. Wang, the director of the Miller School’s Spine Neurosurgery Fellowship Program, discusses UHealth—University of Miami Health System’s newly opened Early Intervention Spine Clinic, which focuses on younger and otherwise healthy patients whose spinal disease is significant but may not yet warrant traditional surgery.
Dr. Wang explains how emerging approaches, including regenerative cell therapies, nucleus replacement and motion-preserving technologies, could offer new options before more invasive procedures become necessary. Some of these treatments are being studied in clinical trials at the Miller School, where researchers are working to determine which patients are most likely to benefit.
Then, Dr. Wang takes questions submitted by listeners, covering everything from 3D-printed spinal implants and the role of human judgment in an age of robotics to whether he still gets nervous before surgery and what it takes to pursue a career in neurosurgery.
Tune in to the latest episode of Inside U Miami Medicine for a look at how science, technology and clinical judgment are opening new possibilities for patients with spinal disease.
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Tags: Department of Neurological Surgery, Dr. Michael Wang, Inside U Miami Medicine, Inside U Miami Medicine podcast, neurological surgery, neurosurgery, Spine Fellowship Program, spine surgery