Becker’s Spine Review featured spine surgeon Dr. Roger Härtl twice in its May 2019 quarterly issue. In the first article, Dr. Härtl joined three other spine surgeons to discuss spine innovation in an article titled, “What spine surgeons need for better patient care that don’t exist already.” In the second, he was interviewed in a segment titled, “Dr. Roger Härtl: The biggest opportunity in spinal biologics,” in which he talked about emerging technology in spine surgery.
Dr. Härtl noted his position that biologics are a big opportunity in the surgical arena. “We need better data that biologics really have an impact on disc regeneration and repair,” he conceded. But, he added, “many groups are working on this and we will likely have much more and better evidence soon.”
Dr. Hartl expanded on the biggest opportunities in spinal biologics, saying, “We are seeing an emergence of surgical navigation and still in its early stages, surgical planning simulation, and virtual reality technology that will significantly change the way that we will plan, perform, and assess spinal surgery for all types of pathologies.” He reflected on the future of surgery and said he believes that, with better technologies, there will be less need for fusion surgery. He said that surgeons can “decide to be at the forefront of research and innovation or have insurance carriers and governmental decision-makers take the lead.”
Becker’s Spine Review writes about issues relating to spine practices. Each issue is published quarterly and has an audience of around 12,500 spine practice decision-makers.
