Spine Research

Current Studies

Overviews of ongoing and completed studies conducted by MetroHealth spine experts.

Sequelae of Odontoid Nonunions

Type II odontoid fractures in the elderly (>70 year olds) present a treatment dilemma for spine surgeons. Some surgeons treat these common fractures conservatively in a rigid cervical collar accepting a high nonunion rate. Some surgeons treat these fractures aggressively with surgery to improve stability. The sequelae of nonunions are not completely understood. This study presents the largest series in the literature of patients with known odontoid nonunions who sustained a second trauma and did not suffer catastrophic neurologic injury and death.

Principal Investigator: Timothy Moore, MD
Co-Investigator: Michael Steinmetz, MD

Utility of Spine MRIs in Polytrauma Patients

Trauma patients with an Injury Severity Score of  >16 with a spine injury requiring surgery are usually medically unstable from a multi-system standpoint. We hypothesize these patients are often sent from the surgical intensive care unit to have a study that often doesn't affect surgical planning and can often delay timing of surgery.

Principal Investigator: Timothy Moore, MD
Co-Investigators: Heather Vallier, MD; Michael Steinmetz, MD; John Como, MD; Rajiv Shah, MD
Medical Student: Morgan Welebir, MS3

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Publications

Bibliographic body of published work by MetroHealth spine experts.

Jensen WK, Moore TA, Tribus CB, Anderson PA, Zdeblick TA. Use of patella allograft for anterior cervical diskectomy and fusion. J Spinal Disord Tech 22:392-398, 2009.

Anderson PA, Moore TA, Davis KW, Molinari RW, Resnick DK, Vaccaro AR, Bono CM, Dimar JR 2nd, Aarabi B, Leverson G. Cervical spine injury severity score. Assessment of reliability. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2007 May; 89(5):1057-65.

Moore TA, Vaccaro AR, Anderson PA. Classification of Lower Cervical Spine Injuries. Spine. 31(11 Suppl):S37-43; discussion S61, 2006 May 15.

Archdeacon MT, Anderson R, Harris AM, Wilber JH: Concomitant Fractures of the Acetabulum and Spine: A Retrospective Review of Over 300 Patients. Journal of Trauma 60:609-612, 2006.