BEVERLY HILLS, CA, June 27, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Hooman M. Melamed, MD, has been recognized as a 2022 Castle Connolly Top Doctor — the eighth consecutive year he has received the Top Doctor honor. Only about 7 percent of the nation's licensed physicians are selected as Castle Connolly Top Doctors in their regions for their specialties.
An orthopaedic spine surgeon, Dr. Melamed treats a wide range of spinal injuries and conditions, including cervical/thoracic/lumbar spine disorders, trauma, arthritis, disc conditions, sciatica, scoliosis, kyphosis, spondylolisthesis, stenosis, myelopathy, cord compression, herniated disc, spondylitis, infection, degenerative disc disease, and tumors, both benign and cancerous.
Dr. Melamed sees patients ages 12 and older at The Spine Pro, the practice he founded in 2005. Affiliated with Cedars-Sinai Marina del Rey Hospital and Mission Community Hospital, he has performed thousands of spine surgeries.
Dr. Melamed's philosophy includes taking a whole-person approach to patient care — not just treating the spine. He believes in a functional integrative and holistic approach in which he treats patients without using narcotics. Instead, he focuses on nutrition, gut health, and lifestyle to maximize patient outcomes. He uses surgery as a last resort.
He was the first spine surgeon in the country to use his non-narcotic approach. Since March 2018, over 95 percent of Dr. Melamed's patients have not been given narcotics after their operations — with excellent results.
Dr. Melamed has special expertise in performing ultra minimally invasive spine surgery, and in many cases, he can treat patients with these far less-invasive procedures. He was the first spine surgeon in the U.S. to perform biportal endoscopic spine surgery (BESS) in April 2019. Instead of the traditional spine surgery, Dr. Melamed uses two small portals (each less than a 1/3-inch incision). In one portal, he inserts a camera into the area where the nerve is pinched and, through the other portal, he removes the pressure from the nerve. Using BESS, Dr. Melamed has been able to save countless patients from fusion operations. Patients are back to work and driving after 2-3 days with minimal pain. They usually start physical therapy (PT) 2-3 weeks after surgery and resume full sports activities after completing PT.
Check out Charlie's story on how Dr. Melamed saved him from fusion using the BESS technique.
His other surgical offerings include disc repair and artificial disc replacement; microdecompression (discectomy); outpatient fusion such as anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF), extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF), and posterior spinal fusion procedures; platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and bone marrow and cell and growth factor therapy; intracept procedure; and surgeries to correct spinal deformities such as scoliosis and kyphosis and other spinal deformities. A third of Dr. Melamed's surgeries involve redo and revision spine surgery in which patients have been referred to him by other spine surgeons. He also provides second opinions.
Watch a video about one of Dr. Melamed's 115-degree scoliosis corrective operation.
"If surgery is needed, then every patient deserves the correct operation. Too many patients get the same operation — the hammer-and-nail approach. I believe that each patient is unique and should be treated with a unique operation," Dr. Melamed says. "Too many patients get treated based on what is abnormal on imaging. I firmly believe in treating the patient — not the imaging. "
A Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Dr. Melamed is certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, with subspecialty certification in spine surgery.
Top Doctors are nominated by peer physicians and selected by the physician-led Castle Connolly research team.
"I am beyond humbled and honored to have been chosen year after year for the award," Dr. Melamed says. "I always believe one must provide the absolute optimum patient care and the rest will fall into place: Make patient care the number one priority and everything else will be fine."
See a video about a case in which, for the first time in the U.S., Dr. Melamed converted a two-level fusion into an artificial disc in a 24-year-old martial artist.
Dr. Melamed earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He completed an orthopaedic surgery internship at Louisiana State University followed by an orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Illinois Medical Center and a one-year spine surgery fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
About Castle Connolly
Castle Connolly publishes its Top Doctors list at castleconnolly.com and in a variety of print and online partner publications. Nominations are open to all board-certified MDs and DOs. The Castle Connolly team chooses honorees based on nominee criteria that includes their medical education, training, hospital appointments, and disciplinary histories.
Doctors do not and cannot pay to be selected as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor.
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