ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the challenges of utilization of new medical technology affect minimally invasive spine surgery. It shows that the treating surgeon, however, gains patients from referring physicians who may preferentially send patients to either traditional or “less invasive” surgeons. Promising new technologies are presented to spine surgeons daily. One hallmark of a successful practice involves its critical evaluation and adoption of new technologies. Physician behavior is felt to account for a sixfold variation in the rates of spine surgery across the United States. Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) techniques dovetail into wider social imperatives of “new and improved” treatments. Some patients emphasize a technologic solution for their symptoms. MIS marketing is at its worst when the less invasive nature of the surgical approach is used to justify relaxed surgical indications and decreased patient responsibility in terms of activity modification, exercise, rehabilitation, weight loss, and smoking cessation.
