Recently, spinal surgery by neurosurgeons has been gradually increasing in Japan. It may not take a long time until spinal surgery will become a main business for neurosurgeons in our country, similar to other countries. How frequent is spinal surgery currently performed by neurosurgeons? To understand this, it is necessary and important for neurosurgeons to activate and develop the department of neurosurgery. In this report, we demonstrate the results of survey questionnaires to all of the neurosurgical institutes in our country in 2004 to evaluate the present situation of spinal surgery for neurosurgeons.
In the results, 8.65% of all surgical cases by neurosurgeons was spinal surgery. This rate increased compared to the results of 1996 and 2000. However in about 40% of all neurosurgical institutes, spinal surgery was not performed at all. In this report, regional analysis, which separated our country into 9 areas, was also performed. In the results, spinal surgery was found to be performed actively in the areas of Chubu, Kansai, Hokkaido, and Hokuriku. However, the Tohoku, Shikoku, and Chugoku areas were not vigorous in spinal surgery.
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