Dominic Pelle, MD

“If I’m going to take somebody to surgery, what we want to do is make sure that they have a point person that they can communicate with. All of these things are ongoing, but we try to direct patients where they need to go and keep them plugged into us, at the Center for Spine Health and to the surgeons.”

When it comes to spine surgery, one’s first thought can often drift toward the realm of complications or the challenge of the procedure. But for Dominic Pelle, MD, spine surgeon, Center for Spine Health, Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues, the first thought is often the patient's quality of life.

, Pelle offered insight into the ongoing projects at the Center for Spine Health centered around consistently 

improving patient-reported outcomes and their importance

 to the Center. He mentioned how they establish goals for patients and seek to identify novel techniques to improve the procedures.

Additionally, Pelle shared the system in place for communication with the patient, with the surgeon playing a “quarterback” of sorts, ensuring a consistent line of communication and guidance for the patient as they go from clinician to clinician leading up to their procedures.

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The spine surgeon in the Center for Spine Health at Cleveland Clinic spoke to the importance of improving patient-reported outcomes and ensuring consistent communication with patients undergoing spine surgery.

Dominic Pelle, MD: Improving Patient-Reported Outcomes in Spine Surgery

“We need to know how we’re doing. A set of X-rays after surgery doesn’t tell me if I’ve done a successful surgery. I need to know, is the patient back at work? Is their quality of life better?”

Clinicians know the importance of patient-reported outcomes all too well, and while there may be some debate around their reliability and clarity in clinical trials, in real-world practice, they can be an extraordinarily valuable tool for medical professionals.

Dominic Pelle, MD, spine surgeon, Center for Spine Health, Cleveland Clinic, knows this all too well. For him and his colleagues, these reports are what let him know if a procedure or an intervention is truly successful. Additionally, to help improve their outcomes, there has been a push to focus on taking a perioperative, multidisciplinary approach to pain management for these procedures.

 about this goal that the Center for Spine Health has set for itself and how using patient-reported outcomes and questionnaires can help the clinicians improve their experiences prior to, and after, surgery and other procedures.

The spine surgeon in the Center for Spine Health at Cleveland Clinic discussed the importance of patient-reported outcomes for patients who are undergoing spine surgery.

Dominic Pelle, MD: The Importance of Patient-Reported Outcomes

“We can do fusions, decompressions, scoliosis surgery even, at times, minimally invasively through a lateral approach. We’re really pushing the envelope with minimally invasive surgery in spine.”

In the last 10 years, the field of spinal surgery has been fortunate to experience an upheaval in progress, with a number of new technologies and methods allowing for easier procedures and better outcomes than what was seen before. Now, minimally invasive procedures have become an option for patients who previously may not have had an option at all.

Dominic Pelle, MD, has felt this impact in his practice. As a spinal surgeon in Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Spine Health, he and colleagues have helped to “push the envelope” of spinal surgery by developing these minimally invasive techniques. To find out more from him, 

 sat down with Pelle to discuss these developments.

Pelle also provided insight into the future of spine surgery and discussed how a new international push from global study groups has pushed surgeons and those treating spinal injury to achieve greater progress and continue to innovate.

The spine surgeon in the Center for Spine Health at Cleveland Clinic spoke about the improvements in minimally invasive surgery and the areas ripe for innovation.

Author | Dominic Pelle, MD

Articles

Dominic Pelle, MD: Improving Patient-Reported Outcomes in Spine Surgery

Dominic Pelle, MD: The Importance of Patient-Reported Outcomes

Dominic Pelle, MD: Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery