Spinal Surgery

Code:

OPT162

Acronym:

CCV

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2023/2024 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health Department
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIMED	4	Plano Oficial 2021	5	-	2	19	54

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

- Learn about the most frequent spine diseases in clinical practice and their semiology.
- Make a rational use of ancillary diagnostic exams.
- Practice clinical managment of patients with spine related complains.
- Recognize the clinical conditions that require surgical treatment and their priority.
- Be acquainted with the most common spinal surgical procedures.

Learning outcomes and competences

At the end of this unit the students should be able to:
- Identify the most common spinal diseases in clinical practice
- Assess patients with spinal diseases
- Perform neurological examination on patients with spinal diseases
- Ask for ancillary diagnostic exams after clinical examination and have basic knowledge about its interpretation
- Design a therapeutic plan for patients with degenerative spinal pathologies

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

Basical knowledge of Neurology and Neurosurgery, and surgical techniques.

Program

- Epidemiology of spine disorders.
- Imaging of the spine, spinal cord and nerve roots.
- Diadnostic neurophysiological examinations and intraoperative neuromonitoring.
- Degenerative spine disorders (cervical and lumbar disc herniation, spondylotic radiculopathy, cervical spondylotic myelopathy, degenerative lumbar stenosis).
- Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis.
- Spinal metastatic disease, multiple myeloma and other spine and spinal cord tumors.
- Disorders of the craniocervical junction.
- Cauda equina syndrome.
- Spinal cord injury.
- Basic concepts of spine deformity.
- Conservative treatment and rehabilitation.
- Percutaneous spinal diagnostic and therapeutic techniques.
- Spine surgery.

Mandatory literature

Albert, T & Vaccaro, A.; Physical examination of the spine, 2017
Anderson, D. & Vaccaro, A.; Decision making in spine care, 2013
Baaj, A., Mummaneni, P., Uribe, J. Vaccaro, A. & Greenburg, M.; Handbook of spine surgery, 2016

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theoretical sessions (4.5 hours):

- Introduction to spinal disorders

- Cervical degenerative pathology

- Lumbar degenerative pathology

- "Red flags" and tumor, infection, trauma, and malformations

- Concepts of biomechanics, alignment and stability applied to spine surgery

- Surgical techniques

 

Theoretical-practical sessions (1 hour): Discussion of clinical cases or topics presented by students

 

Seminars (3.75 hours):

- Imaging

- Neurophysiology

- Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

- Percutaneous techniques

 

Practical sessions (9.5 hours):

- Live surgery in the OR (4 hours – groups of 2 students)

- Simulation in spine models (1.5 hours)

- Outpatients clinic (4 hours – groups of 2 students)

 

Evaluation (0.25 hours):

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	40,00
Trabalho de campo	30,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	30,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	33,00
Frequência das aulas	19,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	2,00
Total:	54,00

Eligibility for exams

80% of presences

Calculation formula of final grade

Self-assessment - 40%
Continuous evaluation (including presentation and discussion of clinical case or topic) - 60%

Examinations or Special Assignments

No

Internship work/project

Voluntary

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

No

Classification improvement

Oral examinaxion

Observations

No