Our Approach to Spine Conditions
The unmatched collaboration among its world-renowned neurological surgery, orthopedic surgery, rehabilitation medicine and pain medicine specialists, positions Montefiore Einstein as an international leader in spine care. At the Comprehensive Spine Center we provide multidisciplinary evaluation and comprehensive management for adults and children with degenerative, traumatic, vascular, congenital and oncological spine conditions. We are ranked in the top 1% of all hospitals in the nation for neurology and neurosurgery and are ranked in the top one percent in the nation for orthopedics, according to U.S. News & World Report. We are also an international referral site for complex cases.
Our renowned specialists from all four disciplines care for patients at our state-of-the-art Hutchinson Campus, an all-in-one location conveniently located off the Hutchinson Parkway. Your Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Spine Center team is committed to working together to deliver coordinated and expedited care, ensuring the optimal and least invasive treatment plan for the best possible outcomes, while reducing the duration of the treatment and the stress on patients and their families.
Specialization Covering the Full Spectrum of Spinal Care
At our full-service spine center, our experts specialize in the latest and most advanced nonsurgical and surgical approaches in the management of the complete spectrum of spine conditions. Each specialist at our center has a subspecialization within the disciplines of pain management, rehabilitation medicine and spinal surgery. This expertise spans neck and back pain, nerve and spinal cord compression syndromes, peripheral nerve entrapment, intradural spine and nerve sheath tumors, tumors affecting the spinal column, and scoliotic deformities of the spine.
Our award-winning spine experts offer a variety of nonsurgical treatments to address pain and restore mobility. For those patients who need surgery, our team of renowned fellowship-trained neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons perform the full spectrum of procedures including minimally invasive spine surgery (MIS), discectomy, decompression with stabilization, spinal fusion and spine reconstruction including deformity correction in both adults and children.
Advanced Treatments
Our elite interdisciplinary team takes a holistic approach, treating the entire patient, listening to their concerns and consulting across a variety of disciplines to find the appropriate individualized treatment, which may include physical therapy, nerve blocks, epidural steroid injections and surgery when conservative therapy is ineffective. Patients under consideration for spine surgery, including decompression surgery and/or spine reconstruction, are reviewed at a multidisciplinary indications conference to ensure best practices and possible outcomes.
Treatment plans are designed to optimize our patients’ care, restoring mobility as quickly as possible. Many of the surgical and nonsurgical treatments we offer at the Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Spine Center include the following:
Surgical
- Decompression
- Discectomy
- Minimally invasive spine surgery
- Spinal cord stimulator
- Spinal fusion
- Spinal stabilization
Nonsurgical
- Caudal epidural steroid injection
- Cervical epidural steroid injection
- Cervical facet intra-articular injections
- Diagnostic cervical and lumbar medial branch block
- Epidural adhesiolysis
- Genicular nerve block
- Hip steroid injections
- Lumbar interlaminar epidural steroid injection
- Lumbar facet intra-articular injections
- Lumbar sympathetic blocks
- Lumbar transforaminal epidural steroid injection
- Radiofrequency ablations of the cervical and lumbar medial branches
- Sacroiliac joint injection
- Spinal cord stimulator trials
- Stellate ganglion blocks
- Sympathetic nerve block
- Thoracic epidural steroid injection
- Thoracic facet intra-articular injections
- Vertebroplasty
Your Comprehensive Spine Center Team
Reza Yassari, MD, NSDR
Andrew I. Gitkind, MD, Masters in Health Administration
Lourdes M. M Figueroa, MD
Moorice A. Caparo, MD
Rafael De La Garza Ramos, MD
Yaroslav Gelfand, MD
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Saikiran Murthy, DO
Robert M. Simon, MD
About Spinal Disorders
The spine is a complex structure including the spinal cord, nerve roots, and the spinal column that provides support and protection for the spinal cord and nerve roots. The spinal column refers to the vertebrae, intervertebral discs, facet joints, and various ligaments that connect these elements together. The spinal cord travels within the spinal column. It is a part of the central nervous system that sends information controlling movement and balance from the brain to the body and, also, communicates sensory information regarding touch, pressure, position, and pain from the body back to the brain. A normal spine has 31 vertebrae or levels, and there is a pair of nerve roots emanating from the spinal cord and exiting the spinal column at each level. These nerve roots connect the brain and spinal cord to every part of the body below the head.
Disorders of the spine can affect all three elements singly or in combination. The most common causes of spinal disorders are degenerative or arthritic changes affecting the spinal column and potentially compressing or compromising the neural elements. Other causes of spinal disease include benign or cancerous tumors, infection, trauma, or vascular injury.
Treatment for spinal disorders varies depending on the specific condition and its severity. It may include physical therapy, medication, surgery, or a combination of these approaches. In many cases, early diagnosis and intervention are crucial for better outcomes.
We use a multi-disciplinary approach and tailor our treatments to the individual patient. Below are some common spinal disorders: