When I was training as an orthopedic surgery resident, I took care of a young teenage girl who was born with misshaped vertebra. As she grew, her spine began to curve (congenital scoliosis). She was cute, chatty, smart, curious, and she had a severe spinal deformity. Orthopedic knowledge at the time taught that correcting a congenitally curved spine like this girl had should never be done. The appropriate surgery was to fuse the deformity in its place, locking in the curvature forever. Any attempt at corrective surgery meant certain paralysis.

Browse the following links featuring Medical Director Dennis Crandall, MD:

• 8 Pillars of Success at Sonoran Spine
• 10 Spine Surgeon Practice Leaders to Know
• 10 Spine Surgeons for Professional Basketball Teams
• 92 Team Physicians for Professional Basketball

Browse through the following topics to view Dr. Crandall's responses for Becker's Orthopedic, Spine and Pain Management's Ask Spine Surgeons.  

 Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care.

• Which Spine Procedures Are Difficult to Receive Reimbursement For?
• 7 Spine Surgeons on Using Robotic Technology
• Spine Surgeons: Is An ACO in Your Future?
• Where are Spine Surgeons Focusing Research & Development in 2012?
• What is Your Number One Concern for Spine Surgery in 2012?
• What Was the Most Important Development in Spine Surgery for 2011?
• Spine Surgeons: What is the Most Important Thing Legislators Can Do Right Now?

In our current cost conscious healthcare environment, some people are still looking for ways to preserve high quality while controlling costs. One such effort is going on in Phoenix at the new Oasis Hospital, on 40^th Street and the 202.

Oasis Hospital is a spine and orthopedic only hospital, owned and run jointly by Dignity Healthcare and a group of the elite orthopedic and neurosurgeons in the Phoenix Valley.  It is new, beautifully appointed, and feels more like a boutique resort rather than a stale hospital.  A resort chef was even hired to prepare meals for patients and their families.  Just pulling into the parking lot, the visitor has a distinctly different impression. The design, the glass and stone, everything from the spacious and comfortable lobby to the large high-tech patient rooms, was created to comfort and impress.

Written by Laura Miller, Becker's Orthopedic, Spine & Pain Management | February 01, 2012

Spine practices can follow one of several different business models with a focus on either surgical cases, non-surgical cases or a mix of both. When founding his group, Sonoran Spine, Dennis Crandall, MD, chose a model that emphasized treating all different types of patients.

Did you miss the story on The Doctors with Dr. Chang and his scoliosis surgery? Here is your chance to watch it!

Mornings start early on most days, with hospital rounds starting well before 6:30am. We surgeons need to evaluate every patient that is in the hospital under our care prior to beginning the day's activities. Rounds consist of formulating an outline the day's recovery plan for each patient who is in the hospital (all have had surgery within the past few days), coordinating that plan with the nurses and therapists, checking in with the incredibly valuable medical consultants who also follow my patients, and taking some time for teaching our Spine Fellow, my Physician's Assistant, and the Orthopedic Surgery Resident who is on my Spine Service. Some days, we resemble a small covey of quail scurrying about the hospital.

We at Sonoran Spine (SSC) joined the rest of the world in sadness at the passing of Steve Jobs, the brilliant Apple Computer founder. Our world would not be the same without our iPads, iPods, iTunes, and Mac computers. My colleague, Terrence Crowder, MD may be Apple's biggest devotee among the SSC surgeons, but I can't imagine performing spine surgery over the past several years without my iPod playing just the right selection of music to smooth away tension and provoke a smile at just the right moments. My patients have benefited from Steve Jobs' genius in their ability to choose their favorite music to go to sleep to. A few studies have shown that patients who drift under anesthesia while listening to their favorite Tony Bennett music have lower blood pressures, which is very helpful for both the anesthesiologist and the surgeon (Effectiveness of different music-playing devices for reducing preoperative anxiety: A clinical control study.Lee KC, Chao YH, Yiin JJ, Chiang PY, Chao YF.Int J Nurs Stud. 2011 Oct;48(10):1180-7. Epub 2011 May 11). Of course, once the patient is asleep, we put on the music we want to hear! Thank you Steve Jobs. Your inventions have made spine surgery even more enjoyable.

To read the full story on azfamily.com click here: Patients call Valley spine surgeon a 'miracle worker'