Dr. Alan Villavicencio, MD, Boulder, CO, 80304

Dr. Villavicencio treats all types of brain and spinal disorders. He is one of only a handful of spine surgeons in the country that has dual training in both neurological surgery and orthopedic spine surgery. He initially focuses on conservative management of the patient. If surgery is necessary, Dr. Villavicencio utilizes state of the art minimally invasive surgical techniques such as intraoperative three-dimensional fluoroscopy-based computerized tomography guidance for percutaneous kyphoplasty reduction of vertebral fractures. This and other techniques were developed by Dr. Villavicencio himself. For more information on the original description of this and other techniques, click the AANS link above.

Patients who previously underwent several hour surgeries and several day hospitalizations can now sometimes be treated as outpatients. He is applying these techniques to all aspects of spinal disorders, including those involving complex instrumentation and deformity correction as well as endoscopic spinal surgery.

Dr. Villavicencio has published more than 50 papers and is the lead investigator in several ongoing prospective randomized trials involving spinal surgery. He is currently the regional primary investigator for the multi-center FDA clinical trial evaluating the MAVERICK (TM) Artificial Disc and was also involved in the multi-center FDA clinical trial for the Charite SB-III artificial disc. Dr. Villavicencio also treats patients with spinal tumors using the only CyberKnife radiosurgical system in Colorado. This non-invasive neurosurgical technique utilizes focused high-energy radiation to attack and kill tumors of the brain and spine.

Type of Spine Care Professional

Neurosurgeon

Contact

Languages

English, Spanish (se habla Español)

Conditions and Treatments

Conditions

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Chiari malformation
• Chronic pain
• Degenerative disc disease
• Degenerative spinal conditions
• Failed back surgery syndrome
• Herniated disc / bulging disc
• Lower back pain
• Myelopathy
• Neck pain
• Neuropathic pain
• Osteoporosis
• Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
• Sciatica / radiculopathy
• Scoliosis and deformity
• Spinal cord injury
• Spinal stenosis
• Spondylolisthesis
• Sports injuries
• Thoracic spine disorders
• Trauma
• Tumors
• Upper back pain

Treatments

• Artificial disc replacement - lumbar
• Cervical spine surgery
• Discectomy
• Kyphoplasty
• Laminectomy / decompression surgery
• Lower back surgery
• Microdiscectomy / microdecompression
• Minimally invasive surgery
• Neck surgery
• Pain pumps
• Reconstructive / revision spine surgery
• Scoliosis surgery
• Spinal cord stimulation
• Spinal fusion
• Sports medicine
• Upper back surgery
• X-STOP

Professional Affiliations

• American Association of Neurological Surgeons
• American Medical Association
• Colorado Medical Society
• Colorado Neurosurgical Society
• Congress of Neurological Surgeons
• North American Spine Society
• Society for Neuro-oncology

Certifications

• Board certified - neurological surgery

Professional Distinctions

• Harvard Medical School - graduated with honors
• Duke University Medical Center - neurological surgery residency
• Cedars-Sinai Medical Center - orthopedic spinal fellowship in minimally invasive and reconstructive spinal surgery
• Assistant Clinical Professor - University of Colorado
• Director of Surgery - Minimally Invasive Spine Institute
• Director of Neurosurgery - Boulder Community Hospital
• Director of Neurosurgery - Longmont United Hospital