After spinal fellowships in the latest surgical techniques, Shawn W. Adams, M.D., has joined Norton Leatherman Spine and Norton Neuroscience Institute.
After completing a pair of spinal fellowships in the latest surgical techniques and technologies, Shawn W. Adams, M.D., has joined Norton Leatherman Spine and Norton Neuroscience Institute.
Dr. Adams’ fellowships covered complex adult spine, deformity and minimally invasive techniques.
“I try to develop a relationship with my patients and partner with them to get the least-invasive interventions to provide the most impact — in a way that aligns with each patient’s priorities and values,” Dr. Adams said.
Dr. Adams’ advanced training at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina, included complex spine surgeries including: trauma, spinal deformity, minimally invasive spine surgery, robotic-assisted surgery and endoscopic techniques.
According to Dr. Adams, it’s important only to consider surgery when it is warranted — after exhausting all appropriate treatment to reduce pain and improve function.
“We are really working to optimize patient outcomes. To do this we have to focus on all aspects of the patient, not just a tunnel-vision view of a surgery,” he said. “If surgery is indeed warranted, we bring intense focus on managing the many variables that we know can impact patient outcomes.”
Dr. Adams becomes the 16th surgeon at Norton Leatherman Spine.
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Before his fellowships, he completed a neurosurgery residency at the University of Louisville, including serving as Chief Resident.
Dr. Adams also has an interest in research. He has worked on spinal cord and peripheral nerve injuries. His main research focus now is on patient outcomes after spine surgery, with the aim to provide the right surgery for the right patient at the right time to optimize individual outcomes.
He also completed research in clinical neuro-ophthalmology at Florida State University College of Medicine’s Balance Disorders Clinic. There, he studied visual performance and retinal correlations in Parkinson’s disease and vestibular function related to benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.
Dr. Adams received his medical degree from Florida State after receiving a master’s degree in biomedical science from the Florida Atlantic University Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Boca Raton, and a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Florida, Gainesville.
Before entering medical school, Dr. Adams worked as a high school mathematics teacher and coach several sports at the school.
When he is not working, Dr. Adams enjoys being outdoors, road or trail running, hiking, fishing, and anything else that will get him outside and into nature.
Dr. Adams’ recently published research
Adams, Shawn[Author] and (louisville[Affiliation] OR Duke[Affiliation])
- Percutaneous lumbar interbody fusion results in less perioperative opioid usage compared to minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion: a single institution, multi-surgeon retrospective studyCONCLUSIONS: In the setting of the current opioid epidemic in the United States and increased numbers of patients undergoing lumbar interbody fusion, spine surgeons must continue to do their part helping reduce the need for opioid prescriptions for postoperative pain management. New "ultra-MIS" techniques such as percLIF allow surgeons to further decrease tissue trauma, which […]
- Successful coil embolization of a ruptured pseudoaneurysm of the superior gluteal artery after a percutaneous awake robot-assisted sacroiliac joint fusion: illustrative caseBACKGROUND: Robot-assisted sacroiliac joint (SIJ) fusion has gained popularity, but it carries the risk of complications such as injury to the superior gluteal artery (SGA). The authors present the case of an awake percutaneous robot-assisted SIJ fusion leading to an SGA pseudoaneurysm.
- Opioid Dependence and Associated Health Care Utilization and Cost in Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Population: Analysis Using Marketscan DatabaseCONCLUSION: Opioid use and dependence were associated with high health care utilization and cost after SCI. Pre-SCI opioid users were more likely to remain users post-SCI and were heavier consumers of health care. Pre- and postopioid use history should be considered for treatment decision-making in all individuals with SCI.
- Patterns and Impact of Electronic Health Records-Defined Depression Phenotypes in Spine SurgeryCONCLUSION: EHR-defined classification allowed us to study in depth the effects of depression in spine surgery. This increased understanding of the interplay of mental health will help providers identify cohorts at risk for high complication rates, and health care utilization.
- Health Care Utilization and Associated Economic Burden of Postoperative Surgical Site Infection after Spinal Surgery with Follow-Up of 24 MonthsCONCLUSIONS: SSIs were associated with significant health care utilization payments at 24 months of follow-up. The following clinical and procedural risk factors appear to be predictive of postoperative SSI: depression, diabetes, anemia, two or more levels, tobacco use, trauma, neoplasm, congestive heart failure, instrumentation, renal failure, intravenous drug use, and malnutrition. Interpretation of modifiable and […]
- Minimally Invasive Endoscopy for Acute Subdural Hematomas: A Report of 3 CasesCONCLUSION: Endoscopic evacuation of aSDHs can be a safe and effective alternative to craniotomy in appropriately selected patients. Further studies are needed to refine the selection criteria for endoscopic aSDH evacuation and evaluate its long-term outcomes.
- Woven Endobridge device for treatment of dissection-related PICA aneurysmRuptured vertebrobasilar dissecting aneurysms require urgent, often challenging treatment as they have with a high re-hemorrhage rate within the first 24 hours. The patient is a 57-year-old woman who presented with severe-sudden onset headache. Further work up showed a ruptured dissecting aneurysm of the caudal loop of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) with associated […]
- Factors Impacting Outcomes and Health Care Utilization in Osteoporotic Patients Undergoing Lumbar Spine Fusions: A MarketScan Database AnalysisCONCLUSIONS: Patients of all ages with OP had higher complication rates and required revision surgeries at 6, 12, and 24 months compared with non-OP patients. Elderly OP patients having multilevel lumbar fusions were twice as likely to have complications and lower health care utilization compared with younger non-OP patients who underwent single-level fusion.
- Inverse National Trends in Decompressive Craniectomy versus Endovascular Thrombectomy for StrokeCONCLUSIONS: We identified an inverse relationship between national trends in rising ET and diminishing DC utilization for stroke treatment over a recent decade. Although direct causation cannot be inferred, our findings suggest that ET curtails the necessity for DC.
- Impact of Surgical Timing and Approaches to Health Care Utilization in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Acute Traumatic Cervical Spinal Cord InjuryObjective Acute traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (AcSCI) causes significant morbidity and has an impact on health care utilization. The aim of our study was to analyze health care utilization in patients undergoing surgical decompression and fusion for AcSCI based on timing and type of surgical approaches. Patient and methods Data were extracted using ICD9/10 […]
