Becker's Healthcare Podcast: David L. Skaggs, MD, Co-Director of Cedars-Sinai Spine

Becker's Healthcare Podcast recently interviewed David Skaggs, MD, co-director of Cedars-Sinai Spine and director of Pediatric Orthopaedics at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s. Skaggs discussed how leading-edge technology and a more diverse workforce are transforming aspects of spine surgery.

Skaggs told Becker's Healthcare Podcast host Carly Behm that one of the most significant advancements in spine care is CT imaging developed from an MRI scan with the help of AI. Called a synthetic CT, this innovation generates accurate, 3D images while sparing children the radiation of a traditional CT scan.

“For pediatrics, this saves children from unnecessary radiation, but if we think bigger picture in adult spine, what it could also do is save people from getting two studies,” Skaggs said.

Skaggs told Behm that surgeons also use synthetic CT imaging for real-time navigation and during procedures.

Skaggs thinks AI also could improve patient safety. He said it could be used to detect early changes in a surgical patient’s neuromonitoring signals, alerting the care team to a potential risk of paralysis up to 20 minutes before a human technician typically would.

“AI really is going to offer us solutions that are better, faster and less expensive than existing technology,” Skaggs told Behm.

Another increasingly important aspect of spine care, Skaggs said, is designing more inclusive surgical tools. Skaggs recounted for Behm how a female surgeon he was training last year couldn’t use spinal instruments he had designed because they didn’t fit in her hands. Through that experience, he learned that one-size-fits-all surgical tools will not be useful as his field becomes more diverse.

“This is going to become increasingly important as we have more women in spine surgery,” Skaggs said.

Listen to the entire interview from Becker's Healthcare Podcast.