Christopher Robert Brown

Journal Article Seminars in Spine Surgery · June 1, 2022 Lateral access spine surgery through the retroperitoneal space is becoming increasingly popular. A major limitation to the adoption of lateral access surgery is the complication profile. Traditionally, the retroperitoneal space and its unique anatomy have ... Full text Cite

Early fusion rates after direct lateral lumbar interbody fusion with bone-morphogenetic protein

Journal Article International Journal of Spine Surgery · June 1, 2021 Background: Direct lateral (transpsoas) lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) reportedly achieves union by 1 year postoperatively, but how soon fusion occurs after these minimally invasive procedures is unclear. This study investigated LLIF fusion progression at ... Full text Cite

Bony Lateral Recess Stenosis and Other Radiographic Predictors of Failed Indirect Decompression via Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion: Multi-Institutional Analysis of 101 Consecutive Spinal Levels.

Journal Article World Neurosurg · October 2017 OBJECTIVE: Although extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF) largely provides successful indirect decompression, some patients have recurrent same-level pain and functional disability. Identifying risk factors for this failure would facilitate better patien ... Full text Link to item Cite

Ankylosing Spondylitis Increases Perioperative and Postoperative Complications After Total Hip Arthroplasty.

Journal Article J Arthroplasty · August 2017 BACKGROUND: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic autoimmune spondyloarthropathy that primarily affects the axial spine and hips. Progressive disease leads to pronounced spinal kyphosis, positive sagittal balance, and altered biomechanics. The purpose o ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Impact of Lumbar Spine Disease and Deformity on Total Hip Arthroplasty Outcomes.

Journal Article Orthopedics · May 1, 2017 Concomitant spine and hip disease in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) presents a management challenge. Degenerative lumbar spine conditions are known to decrease lumbar lordosis and limit lumbar flexion and extension, leading to altered pel ... Full text Link to item Cite

Psychological Predictors of Outcomes with Lumbar Spinal Fusion: A Systematic Literature Review.

Journal Article Physiother Res Int · April 2017 PURPOSE: To review the predictive/risk psychological factors at baseline that are associated with a favourable (or non-favourable) outcome following lumbar spinal fusion (LSF). METHODS: A computer-assisted literature search of PubMed, CINAHL complete and E ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Laminoplasty versus laminectomy with fusion for the treatment of spondylotic cervical myelopathy: short-term follow-up.

Journal Article Eur Spine J · January 2017 BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Laminoplasty and laminectomy with fusion are two common procedures for the treatment of cervical spondylotic myelopathy. Controversy remains regarding the superior surgical treatment. PURPOSE: To compare short-term follow-up of laminopl ... Full text Link to item Cite

Rare cause of back pain: Staphylococcus aureus vertebral osteomyelitis complicated by recurrent epidural abscess and severe sepsis.

Journal Article BMJ Case Rep · December 13, 2016 An epidural abscess represents a rare acute medical emergency, with a reported incidence of 2.5/10 000 hospital admissions annually. The clinical features include fever, spinal pain, radiating nerve root pain and leg weakness. When sepsis is present, promp ... Full text Link to item Cite

Renal artery injury during lateral transpsoas interbody fusion: case report.

Journal Article J Neurosurg Spine · October 2016 Lateral interbody fusion (LIF) via the retroperitoneal transpsoas approach is an increasingly popular, minimally invasive technique for interbody fusion in the thoracolumbar spine that avoids many of the complications of traditional anterior and transforam ... Full text Link to item Cite

What Is a Rheumatologist and How Do We Make One?

Journal Article Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken) · August 2016 OBJECTIVE: Graduate medical education is a critical time in the training of a rheumatologist, and purposeful evaluation of abilities during this time is essential for long-term success as an independent practitioner. The internal medicine subspecialties co ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identifying molecular phenotype of nucleus pulposus cells in human intervertebral disc with aging and degeneration.

Journal Article J Orthop Res · August 2016 Previous study claimed that disc degeneration may be preceded by structure and matrix changes in the intervertebral disc (IVD) which coincide with the loss of distinct notochordally derived nucleus pulposus (NP) cells. However, the fate of notochordal cell ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

167 Reducing Radiation an Order of Magnitude During Fluoroscopic-Guided Kyphoplasty.

Journal Article Neurosurgery · August 2016 INTRODUCTION: Radiation exposure during x-ray intensive medical procedures is a potential health threat to physicians, staff, and patients alike. Simple steps, based around altering the dose settings and pulse rate on a conventional fluoroscope, can reduce ... Full text Link to item Cite

CT accuracy of percutaneous versus open pedicle screw techniques: a series of 1609 screws.

Journal Article Eur Spine J · June 2016 INTRODUCTION: Traditional open exposure for posterior instrumentation requires significant soft tissue mobilization and causes significant blood loss and increased recovery time. Mal-placed screws can injure nerve roots, the spinal cord, viscera, vasculatu ... Full text Link to item Cite

C5 palsy after cervical laminectomy and fusion: does width of laminectomy matter?

Journal Article Spine J · April 2016 BACKGROUND CONTEXT: A common complication of cervical laminectomy and fusion with instrumentation (CLFI) is development of postoperative C5 nerve palsy. A proposed etiology is excess nerve tension from posterior drift of the spinal cord after decompression ... Full text Link to item Cite

Erratum to: CT accuracy of percutaneous versus open pedicle screw techniques: a series of 1609 screws.

Journal Article Eur Spine J · March 2016 Full text Link to item Cite

Sagittal Balance Correction in Lateral Interbody Fusion for Degenerative Scoliosis.

Journal Article Int J Spine Surg · 2016 BACKGROUND: Sagittal balance restoration has been shown to be an important determinant of outcomes in corrective surgery for degenerative scoliosis. Lateral interbody fusion (LIF) is a less-invasive technique which permits the placement of a high lordosis ... Full text Link to item Cite

Extreme lateral interbody fusion with posterior instrumentation for spondylodiscitis.

Journal Article J Clin Neurosci · November 2015 The purpose of this study was to evaluate our initial experience utilizing extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF; NuVasive, San Diego, CA, USA) with percutaneous posterior instrumentation to treat 11 spondylodiscitis patients between January 2011 and Febr ... Full text Link to item Cite

The role of iatrogenic foraminal stenosis from lordotic correction in the development of C5 palsy after posterior laminectomy and fusion.

Journal Article J Orthop Surg Res · October 6, 2015 BACKGROUND: Post-operative C5 nerve root palsy is a known complication following cervical spine surgery. Although several theories have been proposed, there remains no consensus as to the etiology of the palsies. Multiple pre-operative radiographic measure ... Full text Link to item Cite

Two admission pathways for elderly patients with hip fracture: Clinical outcomes at a single institution

Journal Article Current Orthopaedic Practice · July 9, 2015 Background: The incidence of hip fractures increases exponentially after the age of 65, and that number will continue to rise over the coming decades as the population ages. In an attempt to provide better patient care for elderly patients with hip fractur ... Full text Cite

Experience with intrawound vancomycin powder for posterior cervical fusion surgery.

Journal Article J Neurosurg Spine · January 2015 OBJECT: Recent studies have reported that the local delivery of vancomycin powder is associated with a decrease in spinal surgical site infection. This retrospective cohort study compares posterior cervical fusion cases before and after the routine applica ... Full text Link to item Cite

Safe and accurate placement of thoracic and thoracolumbar percutaneous pedicle screws without image-navigation.

Journal Article Asian J Neurosurg · 2015 BACKGROUND: Percutaneous pedicle screw placement is now commonly used to treat spinal instability. It is imperative, especially at thoracic levels, to avoid damage to adjacent neurovascular structures. Although more technically demanding when compared with ... Full text Link to item Cite

The role of iatrogenic foraminal stenosis from lordotic correction in the development of C5 palsy after posterior laminectomy and fusion

Journal Article Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research · 2015 © 2015 Blizzard et al.Background: Post-operative C5 nerve root palsy is a known complication following cervical spine surgery. Although several theories have been proposed, there remains no consensus as to the etiology of the palsies. Multiple pre-operativ ... Full text Cite

A new non-enzymatic method for isolating human intervertebral disc cells preserves the phenotype of nucleus pulposus cells.

Journal Article Cytotechnology · December 2014 Cells isolated from intervertebral disc (IVD) tissues of human surgical samples are one of potential sources for the IVD cellular therapy. The purpose of this study was to develop a new non-enzymatic method, "tissue incubation", for isolating human IVD cel ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Osteocel Plus cellular allograft in anterior cervical discectomy and fusion: evaluation of clinical and radiographic outcomes from a prospective multicenter study.

Journal Article Spine (Phila Pa 1976) · October 15, 2014 STUDY DESIGN: Prospective, multicenter, nonrandomized, institutional review board-approved clinical and radiographic study. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and summarize the 2-year outcomes of patients treated with Osteocel Plus cellular allograft as part of an ant ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparison of helicopter versus ground transport for the interfacility transport of isolated spinal injury.

Journal Article Spine J · July 1, 2014 BACKGROUND CONTEXT: The use and need of helicopter aeromedical transport systems (HEMSs) in health care today is based on the basic belief that early definitive care improves outcomes. Helicopter aeromedical transport system is perceived to be safer than g ... Full text Link to item Cite

Experience with intrawound vancomycin powder for spinal deformity surgery.

Journal Article Spine (Phila Pa 1976) · January 15, 2014 STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ability of local vancomycin powder to prevent deep wound infection after thoracolumbar and lumbar spinal fusion for open deformity cases. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Recent studies report ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Lumbar facet cyst resolution following anterior interbody fusion.

Journal Article Journal of clinical neuroscience : official journal of the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia · December 1, 2013 Facet cysts are a relatively common source of neural compression in the lumbar spine. Open decompression and fusion are frequently used to treat the stenosis and instability associated with this pathology. Recently, anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) ... Cite

Lumbar facet cyst resolution following anterior interbody fusion.

Journal Article J Clin Neurosci · December 2013 Facet cysts are a relatively common source of neural compression in the lumbar spine. Open decompression and fusion are frequently used to treat the stenosis and instability associated with this pathology. Recently, anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) ... Full text Link to item Cite

Extreme lateral interbody fusion for the treatment of adult degenerative scoliosis.

Journal Article J Clin Neurosci · November 2013 Extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF; NuVasive Inc., San Diego, CA, USA) is a minimally invasive lateral transpsoas approach to the thoracolumbar spine. Though the procedure is rapidly increasing in popularity, limited data is available regarding its use ... Full text Link to item Cite

Distant Harrington rod migration 35 years after implantation.

Journal Article J Clin Neurosci · October 2013 Harrington rods have been successfully implanted in thousands of patients for the correction of scoliotic deformity since the 1950s. An exceedingly rare complication of Harrington rod placement is loosening with resultant migration. The authors present a 5 ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Integrin-mediated interactions with extracellular matrix proteins for nucleus pulposus cells of the human intervertebral disc.

Journal Article J Orthop Res · October 2013 The extracellular matrix (ECM) of the human intervertebral disc is rich in molecules that interact with cells through integrin-mediated attachments. Porcine nucleus pulposus (NP) cells have been shown to interact with laminin (LM) isoforms LM-111 and LM-51 ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Risk factors for infection after orthopaedic spine surgery at a high-volume institution.

Journal Article J Surg Orthop Adv · 2013 Surgical site infections are associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and resource utilization. To identify risk factors for infection, the authors reviewed all orthopaedic spine operations at Duke University Medical Center from 2005 to 2010. Of the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Predictors of length of hospital stay in elderly hip fracture patients.

Journal Article J Surg Orthop Adv · 2013 The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between prefracture characteristics and length of stay (LOS) at the authors' institution. Three hundred eighty-nine consecutive elderly hip fracture patients' preoperative characteristics, comorbidit ... Full text Link to item Cite

ACL reconstruction in patients aged 40 years and older: A systematic review and introduction of a new methodology score for ACL studies

Journal Article American Journal of Sports Medicine · 2013 Background: Treatment of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)deficient knee in older patients remains a core debate. Purpose: To perform a systematic review of studies that assessed outcomes in patients aged 40 years and older treated with ACL reconstructi ... Full text Cite

Comparison of superior-level facet joint violations during open and percutaneous pedicle screw placement.

Journal Article Neurosurgery · November 2012 BACKGROUND: Superior-level facet joint violation by pedicle screws may result in increased stress to the level above the instrumentation and may contribute to adjacent segment disease. Previous studies have evaluated facet joint violations in open or percu ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Relation between prefracture characteristics and perioperative complications in the elderly adult patient with hip fracture.

Journal Article South Med J · June 2012 BACKGROUND: The exact relation among patient prefracture characteristics such as age, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class, fracture type, and prefracture mobility status with perioperative complications in elderly adult patients with hip frac ... Full text Link to item Cite

Analysis of past secular trends of hip fractures and predicted number in the future 2010-2050.

Journal Article J Orthop Trauma · February 2012 BACKGROUND: Understanding past trends and predicted future incidence of hip fractures is important for the assessment of Medicare sustainability and resource allocation. The purpose of this article was an analysis of most recent data on the incidence of hi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical outcomes of extreme lateral interbody fusion in the treatment of adult degenerative scoliosis.

Journal Article ScientificWorldJournal · 2012 INTRODUCTION: The use of extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF) and other lateral access surgery is rapidly increasing in popularity. However, limited data is available regarding its use in scoliosis surgery. The objective of this study was to evaluate th ... Full text Link to item Cite

The clinical value of a cluster of patient history and observational findings as a diagnostic support tool for lumbar spine stenosis.

Journal Article Physiother Res Int · September 2011 OBJECTIVE: The study aims to create a diagnostic support tool to indicate the likelihood of the presence of lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) using a cluster of elements from the patient history and observational findings. DESIGN: The study is case based and ca ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Extreme lateral interbody fusion approach for isolated thoracic and thoracolumbar spine diseases: initial clinical experience and early outcomes.

Journal Article J Spinal Disord Tech · August 2011 STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective review of prospective collected data on 22 patients. OBJECTIVE: To describe our initial clinical experience and outcomes with the extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF) approach for spinal diseases requiring access to the thora ... Full text Link to item Cite

Attenuation of inflammatory events in human intervertebral disc cells with a tumor necrosis factor antagonist.

Journal Article Spine (Phila Pa 1976) · July 1, 2011 STUDY DESIGN: The inflammatory responses of primary human intervertebral disc (IVD) cells to tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) and an antagonist were evaluated in vitro. OBJECTIVE: To investigate an ability for soluble TNF receptor type II (sTNFRII) to antag ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

The risk of risk-adjustment measures for perioperative spine infection after spinal surgery.

Journal Article Spine (Phila Pa 1976) · April 20, 2011 STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional data analysis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS). OBJECTIVE: To develop a risk-adjustment index specific for perioperative spine infection and compare this specific index to the Deyo Comorbidity Index. Assess specific mo ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Minimally invasive lumbar interbody fusion in patients older than 70 years of age: analysis of peri- and postoperative complications.

Journal Article Neurosurgery · April 2011 BACKGROUND: The number of spine operations performed in the elderly population is rising. OBJECTIVE: To identify and describe perioperative and postoperative complications in patients 70 years and older who have undergone minimally invasive lumbar interbod ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clinical benefits of intra-articular anakinra for persistent knee effusion.

Journal Article J Knee Surg · March 2011 Postoperative or postinjury inflammation after knee surgery is a significant clinical challenge. Cytokines, particularly interleukin-1 (IL-1), released by inflammatory cells have been shown to have a role in cartilage homeostasis and tissue repair and fibr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Differences in comorbidities on low back pain and low back related leg pain.

Journal Article Pain Pract · 2011 OBJECTIVE: Investigate the influence of external factors such as depression and BMI among subjects with primary severe low back pain (LBP) and low back related leg pain (LBLP). BACKGROUND: The report of disability in patients with LBP may be significantly ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Factor structure and concurrent/convergent validity of the modified somatic perception questionnaire and pain beliefs instrument.

Journal Article J Manipulative Physiol Ther · January 2011 OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to create a parsimonious combination of the Modified Somatic Perception Questionnaire (MSPQ) and the Pain Beliefs Screening Instrument (PBSI) through factorial structural analysis and to investigate the associations of the new scale ... Full text Link to item Cite

Clustered clinical findings for diagnosis of cervical spine myelopathy.

Journal Article J Man Manip Ther · December 2010 Cervical spine myelopathy (CSM) is a clinical diagnosis made with imaging confirmation. At present, most clinical tests used to identify CSM are specific and no clusters of tests have proven more beneficial than stand alone tests in guiding treatment decis ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Clinical benefits of intra-articular anakinra for arthrofibrosis.

Journal Article Orthopedics · December 1, 2010 Postoperative inflammation and stiffness, as well as the struggle to achieve full range of motion (ROM), following knee surgery is a significant clinical challenge. Interleukin-1 is a crucial mediator of the inflammatory response and development of patholo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Proinflammatory cytokine expression profile in degenerated and herniated human intervertebral disc tissues.

Journal Article Arthritis Rheum · July 2010 OBJECTIVE: Prior reports document macrophage and lymphocyte infiltration with proinflammatory cytokine expression in pathologic intervertebral disc (IVD) tissues. Nevertheless, the role of the Th17 lymphocyte lineage in mediating disc disease remains uninv ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

The development of a clinical decision making algorithm for detection of osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture or wedge deformity.

Journal Article J Man Manip Ther · March 2010 The clinical diagnosis of an osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF) is challenging and requires detailed assessment using comprehensive imaging methods. Further complicating matter is that the clinical sequelae associated with OVCF typically in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of body habitus on perioperative morbidity associated with fusion of the thoracolumbar and lumbar spine.

Journal Article Neurosurgery · September 2009 OBJECTIVE: Spinal fusion is performed in patients ranging from young and healthy to aged and frail. Although recent population trends in the United States are toward obesity, no large-scale study has evaluated how body habitus affects mortality, complicati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of surgical approach on complications and resource utilization of cervical spine fusion: a nationwide perspective to the surgical treatment of diffuse cervical spondylosis.

Journal Article Spine J · 2009 BACKGROUND CONTEXT: Cervical spine fusion is performed for various indications in patient populations ranging from young and healthy to aged and frail. The choice of surgical approach is affected not only by disease pathoanatomy, but also by age, medical c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Therapeutic Opportunities for Bone Grafting

Journal Article · December 1, 2008 Full text Cite

Venous thromboembolism in spine surgery.

Journal Article J Am Acad Orthop Surg · November 2008 Venous thromboembolism is a life-threatening adverse event in spine patients and presents difficult decisions for the surgeon and patient. Prophylactic protocols have been established to prevent the occurrence of venous thromboembolism and its sequelae, in ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of preoperative neurological status on perioperative morbidity associated with anterior and posterior cervical fusion.

Journal Article J Neurosurg Spine · July 2008 OBJECT: Cervical spine fusion is performed for various indications in patient populations ranging from young and healthy to aged and frail. Whereas disease pathoanatomy dictates the surgical approach, preoperative neurological status does not necessarily i ... Full text Link to item Cite

Therapeutic Opportunities for Bone Grafting

Chapter · January 1, 2007 Full text Cite

Cervical Laminoplasty

Chapter · January 1, 2007 Full text Cite

Patient Selection for Cervical Disc Arthroplasty

Journal Article Seminars in Spine Surgery · June 1, 2006 Cervical intervertebral disc replacement is a current area of much interest. The primary indication for surgery is to remove symptomatic spinal cord or nerve root compression. The intended purpose of the disc prosthesis is to maintain normal physiologic mo ... Full text Cite