Becker's Spine Review reports how biologics hold numerous possibilities for the future of spine surgery, and ways it can be leveraged according to Andrew A. Sama, MD, and Sheeraz Qureshi, MD, MBA, co-chiefs of HSS spine. 

According to Dr. Sama, biologics are the most exciting and opportune area in spine surgery. “We have an understanding of the metal and the mechanics of how we operate on the spine, and we can certainly improve on that. But from a societal standpoint, it would be much more powerful if there was a way to understand the underlying biological reasons for some of the things we treat, and then figuring out a way to intervene before they become mechanical issues that require decompression or fusion instrumentation. I think that's the future. With artificial intelligence and some of the other modes we have of understanding the processes on a larger scale, I think we can make some meaningful assessments and then act on those things in a more accurate and successful way,” he explained. 

“I think about biologics in two big buckets. I think about the biologics that we use for fusion which we're using everyday. There is a huge opportunity there because they're often significant cost drivers to care. One of the things we've been doing in our service is trying to better define how much biologics something like infusion we should be using for particular types of surgeries,” said Dr. Qureshi.

Read the full article at beckersspine.com.