title: Technical advancements and utilization of spine surgery--international disparities in trend-dynamics between Japan, Korea, and the USA.
abstract: Spine surgery has made radical advancements in the last two decades and provision has expanded a great deal. The history of the technical development is briefly reviewed. To analyze trends in utilization and to assess the macroeconomic demand for spine surgery, the incidence of all spine surgery per capita is estimated referring to diverse statistical data from the USA, Korea and Japan. When compared internationally, there is a great disparity in the utilization of spine surgery, especially for fusion/instrumentation. Medico-socioeconomic conditions underlying the variations are discussed. Adequate surgeon training has to be supplied in a matched volume, and the number of surgeons to balance the need is estimated.
authors.affiliation: Neurologic Surgery, Dokkyo University School of Medicine, Mibu, Tochigi, Japan. kim@dokkyomed.ac.jp
authors.forename: Phyo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ryu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kurokawa
authors.forename: Kazushige
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itoki
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000639:trends*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000639:trends*; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics / Q000601:surgery*; D014481:United States