Department / Division:
Surgery / Neurosurgery

Address:
DUMC 3807
Durham, NC 27710

Appointment Telephone:
919-668-5241

Office Telephone:
919-668-5241

Fax Telephone:
919-668-5095

• MD, Baylor College of Medicine (Texas), 1995

• Neurosurgery, Vanderbilt University (Tennessee), 1996-2001

• Endoscopic and Complex Spine Surgery, Rush University, Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch, 2001-2002

Clinical Interests:
Comprehensive approach to spine care -- from minimally invasive and endoscopic spine surgery to complex spine surgery, including spinal oncology

Research Interests:
Clinical research interests include the development of new, less invasive (both endoscopic and minimally invasive) treatment strategies for addressing spinal problems, from the very simple to the complex. Furthermore, multi-center trials are being performed to further help to identify means to help limit the approach-related morbidity of spinal surgery, as well as investigate up-and-coming technologies and their safety and efficacy in dealing with spinal disorders. Multi-disciplinary research investigating the effects of spine surgery on back musculature and it's functionality is under way. Biomechanical investigations are focusing on the traumatized spine and more minimally invasive, surgical means to heal the fractured spine. Finally, laboratory research efforts are specifically directed towards refining and improving various minimally-invasive surgical treatment statagies for approaching the spine.

Representative Publications:
Isaacs RE, Podichetty VK, Santiago P, Sandhu FA, Spears J, Kelly K, Rice L, Fessler RG. Minimally invasive microendoscopy-assisted transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion with instrumentation. J Neurosurg Spine. 2005 Aug;3(2):98-105. PMID: 16370298 (2005)

Isaacs RE, Podichetty VK, Sandhu FA, Santiago P, Spears JD, Aaronson O, Kelly K, Hrubes M, Fessler RG. Thoracic microendoscopic discectomy: a human cadaver study. Spine. 2005 May 15;30(10):1226-31. PMID: 15897840 (2005)

Isaacs RE, Podichetty V, Fessler RG. Microendoscopic discectomy for recurrent disc herniations. Neurosurg Focus. 2003 Sep 15;15(3):E11. PMID: 15347229 (2003)

Perez-Cruet MJ, Foley KT, Isaacs RE, Rice-Wyllie L, Wellington R, Smith MM, Fessler RG. Microendoscopic lumbar discectomy: technical note. Neurosurgery. 2002 Nov;51(5 Suppl):S129-36. PMID: 12234440 (2002)

Isaacs RE, Weber DJ, Schwartz AB. Work toward real-time control of a cortical neural prothesis. IEEE Trans Rehabil Eng. 2000 Jun;8(2):196-8. (2000)