Department of Neurosurgery, Clinique du Parc Léopold, Brussels, Belgium.
World Neurosurg. 2010 Oct-Nov;74(4-5):422-4. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2010.03.023. Epub 2011 Jan 12.
As the scope of neurosurgical spinal operations has broadened widely, spinal neurosurgery is certainly the one of the fields of neurosurgery where the most changes are observed. Increasing health costs and an aging population will make this issue even more crucial in the future.
We reviewed the number of spinal procedures performed by neurosurgeons in Belgium between 2000 and 2005. During this period, the number of lumbar spinal operations for degenerative spinal diseases has increased by 20%, reaching more than 23,000 operations per year, among which 77% were decompressive surgeries, 43% posterior fusions, and 50% anterior fusions, all done by neurosurgeons. The neurosurgical prevalence is even more striking in cervical or intradural procedures.
As a result we created a neurosurgical spine society to represent neurosurgeons who were otherwise almost absent from the political decision-making processes. These observations, not unique to Belgium, should encourage colleagues to play a pivotal role in all spine-related discussions with healthcare providers, state or private, to get involved in teaching spinal surgery, and to participate in clinical and laboratory research leading to the publications that are essential to put forward the contribution of neurosurgeons in spinal surgery.
随着神经外科脊柱手术范围的广泛扩大，脊柱神经外科肯定是神经外科领域中变化最大的领域之一。不断增加的医疗保健成本和人口老龄化将使这个问题在未来更加关键。
我们回顾了 2000 年至 2005 年间比利时神经外科医生进行的脊柱手术数量。在此期间，退行性脊柱疾病的腰椎手术数量增加了 20%，每年超过 23000 例，其中 77%为减压手术，43%为后路融合，50%为前路融合，均由神经外科医生完成。颈椎或椎管内手术的神经外科患病率更为显著。
因此，我们成立了一个神经外科脊柱协会，代表那些在政治决策过程中几乎缺席的神经外科医生。这些观察结果不仅在比利时存在，还应该鼓励同事在与医疗保健提供者（无论是国家还是私人）的所有与脊柱相关的讨论中发挥关键作用，参与脊柱手术的教学，并参与临床和实验室研究，以发表对提出神经外科医生在脊柱外科中的贡献至关重要的论文。
