Aging Spine Challenges and Emerging Techniques

Description: The older patient has unique characteristics that require differentiation from that of the archetypical adult, such as atypical presentation and response to disease and frailty from comorbidities and chronic disease. Furthermore, healthcare providers of the elderly must commonly focus efforts on maintenance or improvement in function and quality of life as opposed to the classic intent to cure disease. This population trend has inspired modern spine surgeons to pursue and develop a mounting body of evidence and research on the aging spine and the challenges that this patient population presents, both medically and economically. These investiga- tions have centered around three major spinal disorders that afflict the aging population: osteoporotic fractures, degener- ative scoliosis, and degenerative spondylolisthesis.
Adam S. Kanter, M.D., Ashok R. Asthagiri, M.D., and Christopher I. Shaffrey, M.D.
Clinical Neurosurgery • Volume 54, 2007