Surgical Quality and Outcomes

The backbone of clinical evidence and health care

The NSURG Quality and Outcomes team is a multidisciplinary team working collaboratively to improve outcomes and overall quality of life for our spine patients.

The NSURG team conducts retrospective and prospective studies, as well as establishes clinical registries to further the advancement of knowledge and understanding of perioperative and long-term outcomes for spine surgery. Our areas of focus include minimally invasive spine surgery, cancers of the spine, complex spinal procedures, degenerative disorders and spinal trauma.

Our notable recent projects and achievements include:

• the first Australian randomized controlled study comparing minimally invasive unilateral laminectomy versus open laminectomy for lumbar spinal stenosis
• the first multi-center prospective contaminant-controlled study investigating bacterial infection in degenerative spine disease (DISC Study)
• the first standardized imaging analysis technique to measure indirect foraminal decompression following anterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery (Pedicle-to-Pedicle technique)
• the first prospective clinical study of i-FACTOR(TM) bone graft in anterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery