Dr. Niraj Vasavada

Professional bio:

• Dr. Niraj Vasavada is a highly experienced, esteemed and a leading Spine Surgery Specialist with expertise into minimally invasive & endoscopic spine surgeries with over a decade of experience in the field. He has been one of the pioneers in establishing minimally invasive surgery in India in general and to western region (Gujarat) in particular. He has taken multiple courses and trainings along with several fellowships. He is an expert at performing all kinds of Spine surgeries including complex spine surgeries and Pediatric Spine surgeries. Additionally, he does Minimally Invasive Spine Surgeries (MISS), Endoscopic Spine Surgeries (EVS) and Revision Spine Surgeries.

Academic Details:

• M.B.B.S (2001), M.S. (Orthopedics) (University First) (2005)
• Fellowship in adult Spine Surgery and Deformity Correction (Apollo Hospital, Chennai) (6 months)
• International Fellowship- Minimally Invasive and Endoscopic Spine Surgery, Wooridul Spine Hospital, Seoul, Korea. (12months)
• International fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgical Management of Spinal Trauma under Dr. Ralf H. Gahr, Chief, Department of Traumatology, St. Georg Hospital, Leipzig, Germany. (1 month)
• Visiting Fellowship in Spinal Deformity Correction under Dr. Keith Luk and Dr. Keneth Cheung, Queen Marry University and Duchess of Kent Children Hospital, Hong Kong. (1 month)
• Visiting Observership at Institute Orthopedic Galleazzi, Milan, Italy in Spinal Tumor Surgery June 2012.

Past Associations:

• Consultant and Head of the Department, Department of spine surgery, Shalby Hospitals, Ahmedabad, since October 2012 to June 2023. Was heading the department at the quaternary care hospital facility. Have been one of the pioneers in establishing minimally invasive surgery in India in general and to western region (Gujarat) in particular. Was operating between 30 to 35 spine surgeries a month. We were catering to all kind of spine pathologies including degenerative, deformity, adult deformity, infection, trauma, tumor and more.
• Director, Shalby Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences (SIRS), Krishna Shalby Hospitals, Ghuma, Ahmedabad. He had conceived, designed, kick-started & managed the state of the art Rehabilitation institute. We were catering all kind of rehabilitation treatments including Neuro, Spinal, Orthopedic & Psychologic Rehabilitation.
• Consultant Spine Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals, Gujarat from February 2009 – October 2012.
• Consultant Spine Surgeon, MIOT Hospitals, Chennai from February 2008 – February 2009
• Director of fellowship in spine surgery at Shalby hospitals, Ahmedabad.

Positions Held:

• Secretary, Spine Association of Gujarat (SAG), April 2019- till date
• Executive Committee member, Minimally Invasive Spine Surgeons Association of Bharat (MISSAB) (Previously MISSI). October 2018-till date
• Co-Opted Executive Committee Member, Association of Spine Surgeons of India (ASSI), April 2019-till date
• Joint Secretary, Spine Association of Gujarat (SAG), June 2016- April2019
• Treasurer, Spine Association of Gujarat (SAG), June 2014-June 2016
• Executive Committee Member, Spine Association of Gujarat (SAG) June 2012- June 2014

Courses and Training:

• AO Spine Davos masters course, December 2016
• Cadaveric training on OLIF, Chula lab, Bangkok by Dr. Richard Hainz
• Advanced Cervical spine cadaveric surgical meet. By Cervical Spine Research Society. Organized at University of St. Louis, Practical Anatomy lab, St. Louis, MO, USA.
• Deputy Spine Cadaveric Workshop for Spinal Deformity Correction, Chula Lab, Chulalongkon Hospital, Thailand in February 2011.
• Advanced Deformity surgery visitation at Queen Marry Hospital with Dr. Keith Luk, Hong Kong.
• AO spine Advanced course (Asia-Pacific) in October 2009 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
• MISS courses (minimally invasive spine surgery) Wooridul spine hospital, Seoul, Korea in April 2007, July 2007, September 2007 and December 2007.
• AO Spine (Asia-pacific) Basic course… in July 2006 in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

Presentation as Faculty:

• He is regularly invited to conferences of National Repute, organized by state & national associations like ASSI, ICS, SAG, ISSI, BSS, BOA and many more.

Conferences:

• Indo-German Orthopedic Foundation (IGOF) 2007: a spine symposium organized at MIOT hospitals, Chennai. The conference included two days of didactic lectures and 5 live surgeries.
• Inaugural Conference of MISSI 2014: the maiden conference of minimally invasive spine surgeons of India (MISSI) now, MISAB (Minimally Invasive Spine Association of Bharat). He was involved as core organizing committee member. The national conference included, a pre-conference cadaver workshop. Where while being an organizer, demonstrated the techniques of tubular discectomy and MIS-TLIF. The conference was attended by more than 150 delegates with 4 international faculties.
• 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 ORTHOTRENDS: annual conference to update the discuss the recent advances in orthopedic surgery.
• He was the member of scientific committee and chairman for spine symposium.
• Spine Conclave 2018: Organizing secretary: first annual event was organized at Ahmedabad. 4 national and one international faculty attended the conference. There were more than 100 delegates acquiring the knowledge in recent advances in spine surgery. The conference included 4 live surgeries.
• Organizing committee WCMISST2018 Chongquing, China: TOPIC: Current evidences and limitation of MIS-TLIF
• Core organizing committee: ASSICON2019 Ahmedabad.

Books:

• Contributor: Endoscopic Spine Procedures. Editor: Daniel Kim, Gun Choi. Thieme Publishers, USA.
• Co-Author: Evaluation of Back pain. Textbook of Orthopedic surgery. Editor: G S Kulkarni, Jaypee Publication.
• Author: Hemostasis in Minimally Invasive Spine surgery. Editor: Arvind Kulkarni. Jaypee Publishers.
• Case Report on Multilevel OLIF. ASSI Monogram on Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery. Editor: Dr. Arvind Kulkarni.

Publications:

• Percutaneous Vertebroplasty for Osteoporotic Fractures. Pain Physician 2007July 10(4);559-63.
• Percutaneous endoscopic lumbar herniectomy for high-grade down-migrated L4-L4 disc through an L5-S1 interlaminar approach: a technical note. Minimally Invasive Neurosurgery 2010 Jun; 53(3): 147-52Epub 2010 Aug 31.
• To the Editor. Vasavada NB, Vasavada B. TO THE EDITOR. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2021 Aug 1;46(15): E850.