Digital Footprint of Neurological Surgeons.

BACKGROUND: Patients are increasingly turning to online resources to inquire about individual physicians and to gather health information. However, little research exists studying the online presence of neurosurgeons across the country. This study aimed to characterize these online profiles and assess the scope of neurosurgeons' digital identities. METHODS: Medicare-participating neurologic surgeons from the United States and Puerto Rico were identified using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Comparable Downloadable File. Each physician was characterized by his or her medical education, graduation year, city of practice, gender, and affiliation with an academic institution. Using a Google-based custom search tool, the top 10 search results for each physician were extracted and categorized as 1 of the following: 1) physician, hospital, or healthcare system controlled, 2) third-party or government controlled, 3) social media-based, 4) primary journal article, or 5) other. RESULTS: Among the physicians within the CMS database, 4751 self-identified as being neurosurgeons, yielding a total of 45,875 uniform resource locator search results pertinent to these physicians. Of the 4751 neurosurgeons, 2317 (48.8%) and 2434 (51.2%) were classified as academic and nonacademic neurosurgeons, respectively. At least 1 search result was obtained for every physician. Hospital, healthcare system, or physician-controlled websites (18,206; 39.7%) and third-party websites (17,122; 37.3%) were the 2 most commonly observed domain types. Websites belonging to social media platforms accounted for 4843 (10.6%) search results, and websites belonging to peer-reviewed academic journals accounted for 1888 (4.1%) search results. The frequency with which a third-party domain appeared as the first search result was higher for nonacademic neurosurgeons than for academic neurosurgeons. CONCLUSIONS: In general, neurosurgeons lacked a controllable online presence within their first page of Google Search results. Third-party physician rating websites constituted about half of the search results, and a relative lack of social media websites was apparent. Still, numerous opportunities exist for neurosurgeons to address this disparity.

Descriptive Analysis of State and Federal Spine Surgery Malpractice Litigation in the United States.

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective review. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the factors associated with malpractice litigation in cases involving spine surgery in the United States. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Medical malpractice is of substantial interest to the medical community due to concerns of increased health care costs and medical decision-making for the sole purpose of reducing legal liability. METHODS: The Westlaw online legal database (Thomson Reuters, New York, NY) was searched for verdict and settlement reports pertaining to spine surgery from 2010 to 2015. Data were collected regarding type of procedure, patient age and gender, defendant specialty, outcome, award, alleged cause of malpractice, and factors involved in the plaintiff's decision to file. Initial search queried 187 cases, after which exclusion criteria were applied to eliminate duplicates and cases unrelated to spine surgery, yielding a total of 98 cases for analysis. RESULTS: The verdict was in favor of the defendant in 62 cases (63.3%). Neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons were the most common defendants in 29 (17.3%) and 40 (23.8%) of the cases, respectively. A perceived lack of informed consent was noted as a factor in 24 (24.4%) of the cases. A failure to diagnose or a failure to treat was noted in 31 (31.6%) and 32 (32.7%) cases, respectively. Median payments for plaintiff verdicts were nearly double those of settlements ($2,525,000 vs. $1,300,000). A greater incidence of plaintiff verdicts was noted in cases in which a failure to treat (P < 0.05) was cited, a patient death occurred (P < 0.05), or an emergent surgery had been performed (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Overall, physicians were not found liable in the majority of spine surgery malpractice cases queried. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.

Impact of Coil Packing Density and Coiling Technique on Occlusion Rates for Aneurysms Treated with Stent-Assisted Coil Embolization.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Stent-assisted coil embolization is an established endovascular technique for wide-necked intracranial aneurysms. Although recanalization after coil embolization is reduced with the use of a stent, the impact of aneurysm packing density is less clear in stent-coiled aneurysms. The purpose of the present study was to assess packing density in stent-coiled aneurysms and evaluate its effect on recanalization and retreatment. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of consecutive aneurysms treated with stent-assisted coiling was performed at 2 academic institutions between 2007 and 2015. Aneurysm occlusion was assessed using digital subtraction angiography. Packing density was calculated using the AngioCalc app. RESULTS: Two hundred fifty-three aneurysms were identified (median age, 59 years). The median packing density was 35.3%. At last follow-up, 72.7% of aneurysms were completely obliterated and 19.4% had a neck remnant. Complete occlusion was associated with smaller aneurysms and coiling through stent interstices. A higher packing density was associated with increased rate of complete occlusion when analyzed as continuous variable. After adjustment for confounding variables, packing density was no longer predictive of complete occlusion (odds ratio = 1.018, P = 0.122). Similarly, there was no significant association between aneurysm occlusion, retreatment, and packing density when assessed by categories of high (>22%), moderate (12%-22%), and low (<12%) packing density. CONCLUSIONS: Aneurysm size remains the most important predictor of aneurysm recanalization and retreatment after stent-assisted coiling. Although higher packing densities were associated with increased rates of aneurysm occlusion in unadjusted statistical comparisons, this finding was no longer significant after adjusting for confounders.