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Spine Surgeon

HomeSpine Surgeon

GEORGIOS VASTARDIS MD, PhD

SPINE SURGEON

Dr. George Vastardis has specialized in Spine Surgery (Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery) in the United States of America. The clinical field of his specialization includes the treatment of all diseases and deformities of the Spine (such as Scoliosis & Kyphosis of children & adults), as well as the research in the biomechanics of the Spine (Fellowship Clinical and Research on Spine Surgery and Biomechanics of Spine) at Loyola University University Hospital, Chicago – USA, (Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation) and Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Chicago – USA which houses the University’s biomechanical research laboratory.Dr. George Vastardis, MD, PhD, is one of the internationally leading instructors for International Endoscopic Spine Surgery.

 

Program managers of his specialization in the USA:

Clinical & Research Fellowship : Zindrick Michael MD, Patwardhan Avinash PhD, BCEEM , Ibrahim Kamal MD, FACS , Robert Kazan MD ).

Endoscopic spine surgery : Prof. Anthony Yeung MD, PhD (ιδρυτής του DISC institute of Arizona, Phoenix, USA).

 

Upon his return to Greece in July 2014, he founded and took over the position of Director of the Clinical Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (MISS) at the “IASO General” Hospital in Athens, which in August 2018 was renamed “Metropolitan General”.

 

Dr. Georgios Vastardis, MD, PhD, was chosen as an Ambassador and International Instructor of Endoscopic Spine Surgery by Elliquence, a company having its domicile in New York, USA and a world leader in the development of innovative and integrated high quality endoscopy systems of the whole spectrum of spinal conditions with less invasive advanced techniques.

 

The Director of the Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Clinic, Dr. Georgios Vastardis, MD, PhD, a specialized Spine Surgeon with long-term experience in minimally invasive techniques, was certified as a Center of Excellence in the field of endoscopic spine surgery, by Elliquence.

  1. Orthopedic specialty title. Prefecture of Athens, April 2011
  2. Specialization in Spine Surgery, as well as in spine biomechanics research at Loyola University Hospital and VA Veterans Hospital in Chicago, United States (Clinical and research Fellowship on spine surgery and Spine biomechanics, Loyola University, Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation and VA Veterans Hospital, Chicago, USA) Program Directors: Dr. Zindrick Michael MD, Prof. Patwardhan Avinash PhD, Dr. Ibrahim Kamal MD, Dr. Robert Kazan MD, June 2011-June 2014
  3. Endoscopic spine surgery under the guidance of Dr. Anthony Yeung MD. DISC Institute of Arizona, June 2014

  1. Democritus University, Thesis title: «The study of a new modified technique for Percutaneous One-Sided Translucent Kyphoplasty of the thoracic vertebrae with specially designed tools» Alexandroupolis, May 2018

  1. North American Spine Society (NASS)
  2. Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) (IMAST Committee for 2019)
  3. Medical Association of Athens
  4. Hellenic Arthroscopic Society
  5. Hellenic Society of Orthopedic & Traumatology

  1. Selected member of the  IMAST conference for 2019 (International Meeting of Advanced Spine Technology Committee for 2019)
  2. International Instructor for Full Spine Endoscopic Surgery (RIWOSPINE) since July of 2019
  3. Ambassador and International Instructor of Endoscopic Spine Surgery, Elliquence, February 2022

  1. Chief of Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, IASO General Clinic, IASO Group, 09/2022-present
  2. Chief of Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, IASO General, Athens renamed to Metropolitan General, 08/2014-09/2022
  3. Training in endoscopic spine surgery under Anthony Yeung, MD at DISC Institute of Arizona, 04/2014-07/2014
  4. Specialty in spine surgery and spine biomechanics research at Loyola University Medical Center and Edward Hines Jr. VA Veterans Hospital in Chicago, USA, with Dr. Zindrick Michael MD, Prof. Patwardhan Avinash PhD, Dr. Ibrahim Kamal MD, Dr. Robert Kazan MD as program directors, 06/2011-06/2014
  5. Scientific Associate, spine surgery and surgical restoration trainee under Prof. Alexandros Chatzipavlou, former Professor of Orthopedics, University of Crete, 02/2009-04/2016
  6. Resident physician, 2nd Orthopedic Department (with Dr. Zois Stavrou as Chief until 31/12/2018 and Dr. Ioannis Akrivos as Chief until the end of residency), 12/2006-02/2011
  7. Scientific Associate, Surgery & Orthopedic Department, Neon Athineon & Central Clinic of Athens, 07/2006-12/2006
  8. Naval Officer & Infirmary Director on gunboat Niki, Salamina Naval Hospital, 01/2005-05/2005
  9. Assistant, Orthopedic Department (with Dr. Christos Tsaparas as Chief), Regional General Hospital of Pyrgos, Ilia, 07/2004-01/2005
  10. Resident physician, Orthopedic Department (with Dr. Athanasios Giannitsiadis as Chief), Regional General Hospital of Pyrgos, Ilia, 10/2003-07/2004
  11. Rural service, Dafneio Regional Infirmary, Vlachioti Medical Center, 05/2003-10/2003
  12. 3-month internship, General Hospital of Sparti, 02/2003-05/2003
  1. Training of orthopedic physicians and spine neurosurgeons in endoscopic spine surgery, alongside Dr. Irfan Malik, B.B.S, FRCS, FCPS, FRCS(SN), MSc, Consultant Neurosurgeon, King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Dr. Nicolás Prada - Especialista en Columna, MD, PhD, Chief of Spine Surgery, Orthopedics Department, Clínica FOSCAL, at the West Midlands Surgical Training Centre at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust, th leading training centre in the UK. At the special two-day training conference for the certification of spine surgeons, a Full Endoscopic Spine Workshop on Endoscopic Surgical Techniques took place, February 6th & 7th, 2023.
  2. Speaker at the World Spine 9 Congress & 15th Annual Congress of the Hellenic Spine Society which is organized by World Spinal Column Society and the Hellenic Spine Society, the topic on “Minimal invasive and endoscopic surgery for degenerative disk disease (DDD)”, 5th November 2022, Grand Hyatt Athens, Greece
  3. Key Speaker and Key Instructor at the Spine Society of Australia 33rd Annual Scientific Meeting the topic on “Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery – the early stages of learning the endoscopy technique, pearls and pitfalls, 27-29 May 2022, Darwin, Australia
  4. International Leading Instructor for Full-Endoscopic Spine Surgery for Elliquence and hands-on training series courses on full Endoscopic spine surgery at the Macquarie University Hospital & Clinic, May 25th, 2022, Australia.
  5. Lecture on "The Effect of Minimally Invasive Techniques on the Stability of the Spine" in the 1st semester of the Postgraduate Program, organized by the 1st University Orthopedic Clinic of the "ATTIKON" Hospital, in collaboration with the National Technical University of Athens - Center of Applied Mathematical Sciences and Strength of Materials, on the topic "Applied Biomechanics and Biomaterials in Orthopedics", January 2022
  6. Panel at the 14th Annual Congress of the Hellenic Spine Society & 44th Symposium “N. Giannestras-P. Smyrnis", on the topic "Cervical Spine Trauma", October 29th-31st, 2021, Thessaloniki
  7. One-Day Conference on "Biotechnological Developments in Orthopedics", on May 16th & 17th, 2020, Metropolitan Hospital
  8. Live speech on "The place of Artificial Intelligence in the treatment of Spinal Cord injuries including osteoporotic fractures" in the Postgraduate Program on Applied Biomechanics and Biomaterials in Orthopedics, December 8th, 2020
  9. Speaker at the 12th Panhellenic Spine Congress & 42nd Symposium “N. Giannestras-P. Smyrnis", on "Endoscopic spine surgery", November 1st-4th, 2018, Volos
  10. Instructor at the12th,13th and 14th Greek Spine Congress for the workshops of Endoscopic surgery of the spine as a consultant for WOLF endoscopic company
  11. Innovative techniques in Endoscopic spine surgery. Speaker at 11th Greek Spine congress 2017
  12. Cadaveric workshop and seminar on techniques for spine deformity By Orthofix. Chicago, IL, 23 February 2013
  13. Cadaveric workshop and seminar on MIS techniques for thoracic and lumbar spine By Orthofix. Chicago, IL, 8 December 2012
  14. Cadaveric workshop and seminar on cervical, thoracic and lumbar surgery, new techniques by Orthofix. Dallas, TX, 22 April 2011
  15. Cadaveric workshop on endoscopic spine surgery, Las Vegas, USA, 31 May 2010
  16. Cadaveric workshop on endoscopic surgery of the lumbar, thoracic and cervical spine, St. Anna hospital Herne. Germany, 26-27 March 2010
  17. Course of external fixator for management of fractures, Verona, Italy,  2-9 December 2010
  18. Instructional course lecture on how to write and review scientific papers for medical journals. Organized by the reviewers of Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery under the auspices of Hellenic Orthopaedic Society. Athens, 29-30 May 2009
  19. Practical course of periarticular management of knee periarticular fractures (OTC: Osteosynthesis & trauma care Hellas), Nice-France, 24-28 May 2009
  20. Course on Principles of clinical research (OTC: Osteosynthesis & trauma care Hellas), Athens, 28 March 2009
  21. 3rd International course of experimental vascularized flaps dissection in animals for clinical application in limb reconstruction, Athens, 18-21 February 2009
  22. Practical course and improvement of surgical skills in microsurgery on animals, (Athens Trauma Center), Department of microsurgery and upper limb. Κ.Α.Τ. General hospital, Athens, 19 January – 03 April 2009
  23. Course of arthroscopy of the knee and shoulder 4th Seminar in arthroscopic surgery and athletic injuries, Athens, 16-18 April 2008
  24. Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Mediterraneo Hospital Athens, December 2006
  25. Seminar and training course scuba diving medicine, Athens, 7 January - 20 February 2005

  1.  Voronov L, Havey R, Vastardis G, Carandang G, Potluri T, Zelenakova J, Abjornson C, Patwardhan A. Lag-design integrated cervical interbody fusion device with lag screws. Congress of Neurological Surgeons Annual Meeting. October 19-23, 2013, San Francisco, CA.
  2. Vastardis G, Marjan A, Stojanovic M, Dial B, Schaus E, Potluri T, Carandang G, Hadjipavlou A, Voronov L, Zindrick M, Patwardhan A. Feasibility of Balloon Kyphoplasty using unilateral transpedicular approach for the Mid & Upper Thoracic Spine – A Laboratory Study. North American Spine Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, October 9-12, 2013.
  3. Vastardis G, Dial B, Stojanovic M, Marjan A, Potluri T, Carandang G, Hadjipavlou A, Voronov L, Zindrick M, Patwardhan A. Cement Augmentation of Intact Vertebral Bodies Using Percutaneous Unilateral Transpedicular Balloon Kyphoplasty for the Mid & Upper Thoracic Spine. Three-dimensional Analysis of Cement Distribution in the Different Vertebral Body’s Zones. North American Spine Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, October 9-12, 2013.
  4. Vastardis G, Marjan A, Stojanovic M, Dial B, Schaus E, Potluri T, Carandang G, Hadjipavlou A, Voronov L, Zindrick M, Patwardhan A. Feasibility of Balloon Kyphoplasty using unilateral transpedicular approach for the Mid & Upper Thoracic Spine – A Laboratory Study. North American Spine Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, October 9-12, 2013.
  5. Voronov L, Havey R, Vastardis G, Carandang G, Potluri T, Zelenakova J, Abjornson C, Patwardhan A. Biomechanical characteristics of an integrated cervical interbody fusion device. Spine Society of Australia Annual Meeting. Australia, April 19-21 2013.
  6. Vastardis G, Dial B, Stojanovich M, Marjan A, Potluri T, Carandang G, Hadjipavlou A, Voronov L, Zindrick M, Patwardhan. Cement distribution after percutaneous unilateral transpedicular balloon kyphoplasty for the mid & upper thoracic spine. 2013 GRIBOI Conference, Boston 8-10 April 2013
  7. The Biomechanics of a Unilateral Approach to Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression—A Cadaver Study. Zachary A Smith, MD, Georgios Vastardis, M.D., Gerard Carandang, MS, Sean Hannon, BS, Robert Havey, Leonard Voronov, MD PhD, Avinash Patwardhan, PhD, and Richard G. Fessler, MD. 2013 Annual Meeting of the AANS/CNS Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves: Phoenix, Arizona • March 6–9, 2013
  8. Feasibility of Percutaneous Unilateral Transpedicular Balloon Kyphoplasty for the Mid & Upper Thoracic Spine – A Laboratory Study. American Society of Spine Radiology Annual Meeting, Podium Presentation, Scottsdale, AZ, February 21-24, 2013.
  9. Haas N, McIntosh B, Voronov L, Havey R, Vastardis G, Zindrick M, Phillips F, Patwardhan A. Range of motion of intact sub-axial cervical spine. Spine Week May 28-June 1 ,2012 Amsterdam.
  10. Radiofrequency Ablation of a Novel Target for Treatment of Chronic low Back Pain: First Case Series. Vastardis G., Hadjipavlou A.,Katonis P. 4-7 Nov 2010 Antalya, Turkey.
  11. Pitfalls on how to Avoid Complications of Extreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF). Vastardis G., Hadjipavlou A., Benardos N., Tzermiadioanos M., Katonis P., 4-7 Nov 2010 Antalya, Turkey.
  12. Management of calcaneal open fractures,10th European congress of trauma & emergency surgery, 13-17 May 2009,Antalya-Turkey
  13. Three years follow up of postraumatic amputations of upper and lower extremities.N.Lasanianos, GMouzopoulos, E.Xaralampidis, G.Vastardis, J.Spanos, X.Garnavos, 4th Greek Congress of posttraumatic soft tissueue management, 2-3 April 2009, Athens, Greece.
  14. Treatment of extrarticular fractures of the proximal tibia with Intramedullary nail. C.Garnavos, N.Lasanianos, K.Papagiannakos, A.Barbitsioti, G.Vastardis, S.Tzevelekos., 64th Greek orthopaedic congress,7-11 October 2008, Athens, Greece.
  15. A different approach for treating plafond fractures of distal tibia (A&B-AO Classification) with combination of intramedullary nail and free screws. N.Lasananos, A.Barbitsioti, G.Vastardis, G.Sinnis, B.Laka, C.Garnavos, Annual congress of ankle and foot greek society, 4 – 7 September 2008, Nauplio, Greece.
  16. Intramedullary nailing for extra-articular and selected intra-articular distal tibial metaphyseal fractures: fixation enhancement with blocking screws. C.Garnavos, N.Lasanianos, K.Papagianakos, N.Tsoutseos, E.Morakis, G.Vastardis, S.Moshos. 10th EFORT Congress, 29 May – 1 June 2008, Vienna, Austria.
  17. Use of compression screws (BOLTS) in treatment of periarticular fractures of the knee. C.Garnavos, K.Papagiannakos, N.Lasanianos, E. Xarlampidis, G.Vastardis, K. Papanikolaou, M. Sinnis, Greek annual congress of intramedullary nailing, 25 – 27 January 2008, Thessaloniki, Greece.
  18. Management of soft tissue in a wound inflammation after an open fracture inflammation type III B. N.Lasanianos, G. Mouzopoulos, E.Morakis, S.Xaralampidis, G.Vastardis, X.Garnavos, 63rd Greek orthopaedic congress,7-11 October 2007, Athens, Greece.

  1. Current trend in kyphoplasty for osteoporotic vertebral fractures. With Kalliopi Alpantaki, Georgios Vastardis, Alexander G. Hadjipavlou. Surgical and Medical Treatment of Osteoporosis.Principles and Practice. Edited By Peter V. Giannoudis, Thomas A. Einhorn
  2. Flexible memory-alloy instrumentation for unilateral transpedicular kyphoplasty and guided cement augmentation of the thoracic spine. Georgios A. Vastardis, Alexander G. hadjipavlou, Anna E. marjan, Michael A. stojanovic, Brian dial, Konstantinos I. kazakos Acta Orthop.Belg.,2017,83,170-179
  3. Controversial Issues in Cementoplasty. Kalliopi Alpantaki, MD; Michael Dohm, MD; Georgios Vastardis, MD; Alexander G. Hadjipavlou, MD,TOJ2 (2):31-56,2016
  4. Biomechanical characteristics of an integrated lumbar interbody fusion ⦁ device. Voronov LI, Vastardis G, Zelenakova J, Carandang G, Havey RM, Waldorff EI, Zindrick MR, Patwardhan AG. Int J Spine Surg. 2014 Dec 1;8. doi: 10.14444/1001. eCollection 2014.
  5. The effect of posterior decompressive procedures on segmental range of motion after cervical total disc arthroplasty. Brody MJ, Patel AA, Ghanayem AJ, Wojewnik B, Carandang G, Havey RM, Voronov LI, Vastardis G, Potluri T, Patwardhan AG. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2014 Sep 1;39(19):1558-63. 3.
  6. Biomechanical effects of a unilateral approach to minimally invasive lumbar ⦁ decompression. Smith ZA, Vastardis GA, Carandang G, Havey RM, Hannon S, Dahdaleh N, Voronov LI, Fessler RG, Patwardhan AG.PLoS One. 2014 Mar 21;9(3):e92611. 4.
  7. The silicone ring tourniquet in orthopaedic operations of the extremities. Drosos GI, Ververidis A, Mavropoulos R, Vastardis G, Tsioros KI, Kazakos K.Surg Technol Int. 2013 Sep;23:251-7.
  8. Safety and effectiveness of retrorectal presacral approach for lumbosacral axial instrumentation. A clinical study. Hadjipavlou A, Alpantaki K, Katonis P, Vastardis G, Tzermiadianos M, Benardos N. Acta Orthop Belg. 2013 Apr;79(2):222-9.

  1. Dr. Nikos Gerostathopoulos, Chairman of Microsurgery, Hand Surgery and surgery of the upper limb dept., ‘KAT’ General Hospital, Athens, Greece
  2. Dr. Zois Stavrou, Chairman in Orthopaedic Surgery of the 2nd department in Evangelismos, General Hospital of Athens (18/12/2006-31/12/2008)
  3. Dr. IoannisAkrivos: Chairman in Orthopaedic Surgery of the 2nd department in Evangelismos General Hospital of Athens
  4. Alexander G. Hadjipavlou, MD, MSc., FACS, FRCS(C)
  5. Dr. Michael Zindrick, MD, FACS, Hinsdale Orthopaedic Assocs, Clinical Associate Professor Loyola University, Department of Othopedic Surgery, Director Clinical Fellowship
  6. Professor Avinash Patwardhan, PhD, Department of Orthopedic Surgery & Rehabilitation, Loyola University Chicago-Director, Musculoskeletal Biomechanics Laboratory, Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital
  7. Kamal N. Ibrahim MD, FRCS, MA, Clinical Professor Orthopaedic Surgery, Loyola University Chicago
  8. Robert P. Kazan, MD, FACS, Clinical Assistant Professor Neurosurgery, University of Illinois at Chicago
  9. Anthony Yeung, MD, Orthopedic Spine Surgeon - Endoscopic Spine Surgery