From one ASC's 4,000th total joint replacement to another's first three-level lumbar fusion, here are six milestones in outpatient spine and orthopedic surgery so far this year:
1. Vancouver (Wash.) Clinic performed its first knee replacement surgery in its ASC, according to a Jan. 19 report.
2. Jeffrey Carlson, MD, implanted Boston Scientific's MRI-compatible spinal cord stimulator in a March 3 procedure at Coastal Virginia Surgery Center in Newport News.
3. Dr. Carlson also performed one of the first three-level lumbar fusions at an ASC on a 37-year-old patient March 3 at Coastal Virginia Surgery Center.
4. Cincinnati-based Beacon Orthopaedics performed its 4,000th total joint replacement in an ASC setting, the practice announced March 15.
5. Natick, Mass.-based New England Surgical Suites completed its first total shoulder replacement.
6. The first outpatient prone transpsoas procedure in the U.S. was recently performed by Samuel Joseph, MD, of Joseph Spine Institute in Tampa, Fla.