DOKKYO MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

     The Spine Center is a department for spine and spinal cord diseases and provides surgical care by spine specialists. The challenge that we, orthopedic and spine surgeons, are working on is to extend healthy life expectancy. Despite recent advances in medical care, healthy life expectancy in Japan is still about 10 years short of the average life expectancy. The three major factors that hinder healthy life expectancy are metabolic syndrome, dementia, and locomotive syndrome. In order to solve the problem of extending healthy life expectancy in a super-aging society, we have to consider measures against musculoskeletal diseases. Our center specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery with the goal of "safe and secure minimally invasive surgery," which is strongly demanded in the super-aging society. In addition, as a regional core hospital and a hospital with specific functions, we promote patient-oriented medical care mainly in the field of spinal surgery as a medical institution of the highest standard.

Target Diseases
Cervica/Thoracic:
ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament, myelopathy/neuropathy, ossification of yellow ligament, etc
Lumbar:
spinal stenosis, degenerative spondylolisthesis, disc herniation, spondylolysis, etc
Osteoporosis: vertebral fracture
Spinal deformity: degenerative kypho-descoliosis, kyphosis

Surgical Specialties
Spinal endoscopic surgery (spinal decompression, laminotomy)
Minimally invasive spinal stabilization (MISt)
Balloon Kyphoplasty (BKP), Vertebral Body Stenting (VBS) system, etc
Corrective surgery for spinal deformity (scoliosis, kyphosis)

Basic Research
Spinal fusion using artificial materials, osteoinductive growth factors and mesenchymal stem cells
Epidemiology: Spinal degenerative disorders in a population-based cohort
Osteoporosis (vertebral fracture)

Clinical Research
Minimally invasive spine surgery (Endoscopic spine surgery)
Early surgical intervention and drug therapy for osteoporotic vertebral fractures

Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA)
Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research (JSSR)
Japanese Society of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (JASMISS)
Japan Spinal Instrumentation Society
Japan Medical Society of Spinal Cord Lesion
Japanese Scoliosis Society
Japanese Society for the Study of Low Back Pain
Orthopadeic Research Society (ORS)
International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS)
Cervical Spine Research Society (CSRS)
Cervical Spine Research Society- Asia Pacific Section (CSRS-AP)
North American Spine Society (NASS)
EuroSpine Society

Professor Akihito MInamide, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor Makoto Ohe, , MD, PhD

     We provide minimally invasive spine surgical treatment for spinal diseases, specializing in endoscopic spinal surgery, percutaneous vertebroplasty (BKP, etc.), and minimally invasive spinal fusion.

Spine Center, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Dokkyo Medical University Nikko Medical Center
632 Takatoku, Nikko, Tochigi, 321-2593 Japan