Dr. Scott L. Blumenthal, Spine Surgeon at Texas Back Institute
episode
Becker’s Healthcare -- Spine and Orthopedic Podcast
13 min
1 speaker
8 chapters
transcribed 1 day ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Who is Dr. Scott L. Blumenthal and what is his role at the Texas Back Institute?
This is Carly Beam with the Becker's Spine and Orthopedics Podcast, and today I'm thrilled to be joined by doctor Scott Blumenthal at the Texas Back Institute. Doctor Blumenthal, welcome back to the podcast and thanks for being here today.
Well, it's good to be back, Carly.
Absolutely. And uh to start off, can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?
Okay. Um as mentioned, I'm Scott Blumenthal. I am a orthopedic spinal surgeon at the Texas Back Institute or more specifically the Center for Disc Replacement at TBI, which we started over a a decade ago, uh kind of building on our focus on disc replacement, which You know, we pioneered in the US now over twenty five years ago.
That's that's incredible. T more than twenty five years, more than half a century of disc replacement in the US and you know, with Texas back and also, you know, the disc uh replacement institute, where do you see the best opportunities for growth in twenty twenty six?
Well, I mean I I think what we're going to see is continued expansion of indications for motion preservation. I I think a lot of it's patient driven that uh patients seem to uh try to look for an alternative to fusion because they've all had they've all had a negative story about someone or someone in their family uh with a fusion and they they um are always asking for an alternative. And, you know, with the data that we have with both cervical and lumbar disc replacement, uh it's pretty favorable.
Yeah, and I'd love to hear more about the research that you're doing at Texas Back, both in the disc replacement realm and then otherwise.
What are the newest research findings on cervical and lumbar disc replacement failure rates?
Well The the the newest uh project that we've got going on is pertains to cervical disc replacement, which has been very, very popular and gaining popularity not only in US but worldwide. And it was really to answer the question uh by our patients. Uh they all know that if you have a hip or knee replacement, they've got about a five to ten percent chance of needing revision at ten or twenty years. So that's same question. Question was asked about disc replacement. Uh, we did a paper in the lumbar spine and found it about to be about one and a half percent. But we also did a paper in the cervical spine and really found about that same number, which compares very favorably uh to hips and knees, which is a uh very established multi-decade uh technology.
So we we kind of built on on that particular finding, at least for the cervical spine, to look for the the most common reasons of failure. And then how do we how do we revise discs? Do you always have to take a disc out and turn it into a fusion? Or can you too truly do a revision uh disc to disk, which we found we were able to do in about a fourth to a third of those patients uh that That did require revision.
Yeah, and you know, what are some of the and also y again, it's a very, very small uh risk of complication, cervical and lumbar disc replacement, but what are the kind of the most common reasons you do see those small instances of complication?
The uh the two most common reasons we see is uh a condition called osteolysis, which again is something we learned from our hip and knee and shoulder replacement colleagues, which is an uh a cyst formation around a prosthesis that's felt to be due to uh wear of components. And and every every every disc has components that can that can wear.
What are the most common reasons for disc‑replacement complications and how are they addressed?
And if they cause wear particles that the body reacts unfavorably to They create a situation where you get these progressive cysts and then it requires uh revision, just you know, much like we we see in our peripheral joint. The second most common reason really is more of a a learning curve or technical issue, and that is failure to address all the pathology. In other words, we take the disc out, we put a new disc in, but you also have to do a more meticulous decompression of the spinal cord and nerve roots and persistent posterior pathology, which um will mean something to the physicians. but maybe less so to the the non physicians listening, um, is probably the second most common uh reason for needing revisions.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Dr. Scott L. Blumenthal and what is his role at the Texas Back Institute?
0:00–1:41
2
What are the newest research findings on cervical and lumbar disc replacement failure rates?
1:41–3:35
3
What are the most common reasons for disc‑replacement complications and how are they addressed?
3:35–5:38
4
Which under‑utilized patient indications are expanding the use of disc replacement?
5:38–7:14
5
How is private insurance affecting patient access to advanced spine technologies?
7:14–8:35
6
What strategies does Dr. Blumenthal use to navigate insurance headwinds and maintain in‑network care?
8:35–10:05
7
What key disruptor will shape spine surgery by 2026, according to Dr. Blumenthal?
10:05–11:39
8
How might AI, robotics, and navigation transform spine surgery in the near future?
11:39–13:09
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Becker’s Healthcare -- Spine and Orthopedic Podcast
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