Baron Rebecca B, Kessler Remi A, Bhammar Ansh, Boulis Nicholas, Adler John R, Kohli Karan, Hadjipanayis Constantinos
Neurosurgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA.
Neurosurgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.
Cureus. 2020 Feb 18;12(2):e7031. doi: 10.7759/cureus.7031.
Objective Neurosurgeons have taken on the role of innovators, continuing to move the field forward over the centuries. More recently, innovation has taken the form of new technological devices and therapeutics, which require patenting. The aim of this study is to identify major areas of innovation in the field of neurosurgery by evaluating patent records. Methods This study quantifies the number of patents the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) neurosurgeons hold across different subspecialties. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent database was queried using the names of 7,293 AANS members who filed patents between 1976 and 2019. Results A total of 346 (4.7%) AANS neurosurgeons hold a total of 1,025 patents. The number of patents held by each neurosurgeon ranged from one to 109. The areas that patents were filed under include cellular and genetic science (40), drug delivery (45), image guidance (82), neuromodulation (52), pain (7), peripheral nerve stimulation (24), spine (398), surgical devices (148), trauma (16), tumor (78), vascular (67), and other (68). No patents were filed under pediatrics (0). The fields with the greatest number of filed patents are spine, instruments/devices, and image guidance. Conclusion Given the technical nature of the field of neurosurgery, instruments and devices that improve localization, visualization, targeting, and spinal reconstruction are often in demand. Furthermore, since the rates of spinal procedures and implants continue to increase, higher patenting may be motivated by the opportunity to develop new products that can result in royalty payments to neurosurgeons. The advent of new technologies undoubtedly continues to push the field of neurosurgery forward.
目的 几个世纪以来，神经外科医生一直扮演着创新者的角色，不断推动该领域向前发展。最近，创新采取了新技术设备和治疗方法的形式，这需要申请专利。本研究的目的是通过评估专利记录来确定神经外科领域的主要创新领域。方法 本研究对美国神经外科医生协会（AANS）神经外科医生在不同亚专业领域持有的专利数量进行了量化。使用1976年至2019年间申请专利的7293名AANS成员的姓名查询了美国专利商标局（USPTO）专利数据库。结果 共有346名（4.7%）AANS神经外科医生共持有1025项专利。每位神经外科医生持有的专利数量从1项到109项不等。专利申请的领域包括细胞与基因科学（40项）、药物递送（45项）、图像引导（82项）、神经调节（52项）、疼痛（7项）、周围神经刺激（24项）、脊柱（398项）、手术器械（148项）、创伤（16项）、肿瘤（78项）、血管（67项）以及其他（68项）。儿科领域没有专利申请（0项）。专利申请数量最多的领域是脊柱、器械/设备和图像引导。结论 鉴于神经外科领域的技术性质，通常需要能够改善定位、可视化、靶向和脊柱重建的器械和设备。此外，由于脊柱手术和植入物的发生率持续上升，更高的专利申请可能是受开发新产品机会的推动，这些新产品可能会为神经外科医生带来版税收入。新技术的出现无疑继续推动着神经外科领域向前发展。
