The Spine Center is the acute care facility located in the University Hospital, which is part of the Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System (NNJSCIS). The NNJSCIS is the only federally designated model spinal cord injury system in the state of New Jersey and it is one of only 18 such centers in the United States. The Spine Center of New Jersey offers experienced care in all types of disorders of the spine including:

--trauma, with or without an associated spinal cord injury; tumors (both metastatic and primary spine and spinal cord tumors); degenerative disorders (spinal stenosis, herniated discs, spondylolisthesis, "failed back");

--deformity surgery; infections; inflammatory disorders (rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis); and reoperation for previously unsuccessful spine surgeries.

The Spine Center of New Jersey stresses a team approach to comprehensive spine care. Every patient who enters the Spine Center of New Jersey system is promptly evaluated by surgeons with formal training in both Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgery. This effort is greatly assisted by the multidisciplinary team of specialists routinely involved in the care of our patients including, but not limited to:

--Trauma Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Urological Surgery, Critical Care, Radiology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Physical and Occupational Therapy, Psychology and Nutrition.

In addition, invaluable around-the-clock assistance is provided by our resident physicians from the only neurosurgical residency in New Jersey, and from the largest residency training programs in the state of New Jersey in Orthopaedic Surgery, General/Traum Surgery, and Radiology. Most importantly, our highly trained staff of nurses, who receive exhaustive training in the care of spine and spinal cord injured patients, are able to provide state-of-the-art nursing care in both the intensive care and the less acute settings.

An integral member of the team at the Spine Center of New Jersey is the referring physician. We receive referrals from a wide range of physicians in both primary and specialty practices. Our routine management of spine patients will usually involve transfer of a patient from an outside institution, and with the advantages and expertise of a multi-disciplinary team, the patient is medically stabilized. Our state-of-the-art radiologic imaging services are staffed, in-house, 24 hours a day to provide high quality diagnostic studies on an emergent basis (CT, MR, myelography, angiography).

If surgery is necessary, spine surgery of any level of complexity is able to be performed in a timely fashion. If surgery is not necessary, our 3 intensive care units provide all the resources to fully care for these often critically ill patients. Following recovery from the acute spinal disorder, the patients are rehabilitated. This rehabilitation is routinely begun in University Hospital and then continued, as needed, in a formal inpatient training program. Any patient enrolled in the Northern New Jersey Spinal Cord Injury System receives their rehabilitation at the Kessler Institute - West Orange facility. The ultimate goal is to return the spine patient back to his job and to the care of his primary care physician. We have been extremely successful in accomplishing this feat.

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