Scholars@Duke
Clifford Crutcher

Clifford Crutcher

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Neurosurgery

Selected Publications

Demographics, Mechanism of Injury, and Outcomes for Acute Upper and Lower Cervical Spinal Cord Injuries: An Analysis of 470 Patients in the Prospective, Multi-Center, North American Clinical Trials Network Registry.

Journal Article J Neurotrauma · September 2023 There is a paucity of data comparing the demographics, mechanism of injury, and outcomes of upper versus lower cervical spinal cord injuries (cSCI). The study objective was to define different clinical manifestations of cSCI. Data were collected prospectiv ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

A Retrospective Review of the Timing of Glasgow Coma Scale Documentation in a Trauma Database: Implications for Patient Care, Research, and Performance Metrics.

Journal Article World Neurosurg · July 2022 BACKGROUND: The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is intended to be an objective, reliable measure of a patient's mental status. It is included as a metric for trauma registries, having implications for performance metrics and research. Our study compared the GCS r ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sacroiliac Joint Fusion Using Robotic Navigation: Technical Note and Case Series.

Conference Oper Neurosurg · July 1, 2022 BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing sacroiliac (SI) fusion can oftentimes experience significant improvements in pain and quality of life. OBJECTIVE: To describe a novel application of robotic navigation to assist with minimally invasive SI joint fusion. METHO ... Full text Link to item Cite

Relevant anatomy for lateral access surgery

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

Posterior Cervical Decompression and Fusion With Exoscope: 2-Dimensional Operative Video.

Journal Article Oper Neurosurg · February 1, 2022 Posterior cervical decompression and fusion is an effective strategy for correction of cervical spondylotic myelopathy. Here, we highlight the operative treatment of a 63-yr-old man entailing a 4-level posterior cervical laminectomy and fusion, with the us ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Robotic-assisted percutaneous iliac screw fixation for destructive lumbosacral metastatic lesions: an early single-institution experience.

Journal Article Acta Neurochir (Wien) · November 2021 BACKGROUND: Robotic-assisted surgery is becoming more widely applied in surgical subspecialties due to its intraoperative and postoperative advantages such as minimally invasive approach, reduced blood loss, shorter hospital stay, and decreased incidence o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Rupture of a superficial temporal artery pseudoaneurysm following craniotomy

Journal Article Journal of Surgical Case Reports · September 1, 2021 AbstractPseudoaneurysm of the superficial temporal artery (STA) is a rare entity that has been reported in the literature after trauma or iatrogenic injuries. We describe a unique case of STA pseudoaneurysm ... Full text Cite

Two-Level Minimally Invasive Lumbar Laminectomy and Foraminotomy: 2-Dimensional Operative Video.

Journal Article Oper Neurosurg · August 16, 2021 Minimally invasive lumbar laminectomies utilize tubular retractors to minimize tissue disturbance, blood loss, and hospital length of stay compared to open operations. Here, we highlight the operative treatment of a 68-yr-old male entailing a 2-level minim ... Full text Link to item Cite

Management of cerebrospinal fluid leak from cervical gunshot wounds with external ventricular drainage: a small case series.

Journal Article J Surg Case Rep · December 2020 Historically, the surgical management of gunshot wounds to the spine has been controversial. Repair of a persistent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak is a generally agreed upon indication. The management of such CSF leaks typically involves lumbar drainage or ... Full text Link to item Cite

Minimally Invasive Management of Civilian Gunshot Wounds to the Lumbar Spine: A Case Series and Technical Report

Journal Article Operative Neurosurgery · September 2020 AbstractBACKGROUNDTreatment of penetrating gunshot wounds (GSW) to the spine remains controversial. The decision to operate is often based on surgeon p ... Full text Cite

Change in Policy Allowing Overlapping Surgery Decreases Length of Stay in an Academic, Safety-Net Hospital

Journal Article Operative Neurosurgery · December 2019 AbstractBACKGROUNDThe practice of surgeons running overlapping operating rooms has recently come under scrutiny. ... Full text Cite

Primary pain generator identification by CT-SPECT in patients with degenerative spinal disease

Journal Article Neurosurgical Focus · December 2019 OBJECTIVEAxial spinal pain generators are difficult to identify using current diagnostic modalities. Merging CT with SPECT (CT-SPECT) scans allows for accurate identificat ... Full text Cite

Traumatic cervical spine injury during sexual activity

Journal Article Journal of Surgical Case Reports · June 1, 2019 AbstractSexual activity is unlikely to result in spinal injuries. We present the first case of a cervical fracture-subluxation and spinal cord injury following sexual activity. This 31-year-old female presen ... Full text Cite

A case series of penetrating spinal trauma: comparisons to blunt trauma, surgical indications, and outcomes

Journal Article Neurosurgical Focus · March 2019 OBJECTIVEWhile blunt spinal trauma accounts for the majority of spine trauma, penetrating injuries affect a substantial number of patients. The goal of this study was to e ... Full text Cite

The increasing frequency of intravenous drug abuse–associated spinal epidural abscesses: a case series

Journal Article Neurosurgical Focus · January 2019 OBJECTIVEFew studies have been published specifically examining intravenous drug abuse (IVDA)–associated spinal epidural abscesses (SEAs), an unfortunate sequela of the op ... Full text Cite

A modified, less invasive posterior subscapular approach to the brachial plexus: case report and technical note

Journal Article Neurosurgical Focus · March 2017 The traditional posterior subscapular approach offers excellent exposure of the lower brachial plexus and has been successfully used in patients with recurrent thoracic outlet syndrome after an anterior operation, brachial plexus tumors involving t ... Full text Cite

Racial Disparities in Cranial Gunshot Wounds: Intent and Survival

Journal Article Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities · December 2016 Full text Cite

Risk-Taking and the Feedback Negativity Response to Loss among At-Risk Adolescents

Journal Article Developmental Neuroscience · 2009 Event-related brain potentials were examined in 32 adolescents (50% female) from a high-risk sample, who were exposed to cocaine and other drugs prenatally. Adolescents were selected for extreme high- or low-risk behavior on the Balloon Analog Risk ... Full text Cite