Specialized medical services

The Department of Spine Surgery of Hiroshima University Hospital treats disease and trauma to the spine and spinal cord. Our department is one of the most qualified orthopedic programs and fully equipped to treat each and every spinal condition, deformity, injury, or disorder.  We especially work on techniques of atraumatic spine surgery for degenerative spinal disorders in the cervical and lumbar spine, using a microscope or micro endoscope.  We have also introduced techniques of electrophysiological studies, that are based on neurophysiological principles, for a precise diagnosis and accordingly for an improvement of the patients‘ quality of life.

Target Diseases

With recent increasing of elderly people with spine and spinal cord disorders, many of our patients have been referred by general hospitals and family physicians. The guiding principle in our day-to-day work is patient-centered treatment. The Department of Spine Surgery has leading specialists that address a broad spectrum of orthopedic conditions and procedures. We provide the most advanced and cutting-edge treatments; The most common surgery performed in our department is for cervical myelopathy. We also focus on herniated intervertebral disc, scoliosis, spine fracture, spinal and spinal cord tumors, and thoracic outlet syndrome.

Development of less invasive technique of spinal microscopic or micro endoscopic surgery, Neurophysiological assessment for myelopathy, Improvement of MR imaging, Spinal alignment, Research of motion analysis on spinal disorders, and Research of spinal cord regeneration for spinal cord injuries.

Between 1990 and 2017 our department performed surgical treatment for 2095 cases of spine and spinal cord disorders, 734 cases of cervical disease including 77 upper cervical cases, 310 cases of thoracic disease, 911 cases of lumbar disease, and 140 other cases. They include spinal deformity or spinal and spinal cord tumor cases as well as degenerative spinal disorder or trauma cases.  We aim to provide safer and less invasive surgical options for our patients. Using the operating microscope during surgery reduces hemorrhage and postoperative pain, resulting in shorter hospital stay and early return to normal life and work. Recently, we have also been performing minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery.