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Home > Doctors > Christopher Ames

Christopher Ames, M.D.

Neurosurgeon

Dr. Christopher Ames is director of spinal tumor and spinal deformity surgery at UCSF Medical Center. He also is co-director of the Neurospinal Disorders Program and the UCSF Spine Center. Ames, who is board certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, is a specialist in spinal reconstructive surgery for trauma, tumors and degenerative disease, particularly en bloc tumor resection for chordoma, chondrosarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma, sacral tumors and other primary and metastatic tumors. He developed and published the transpedicular approach to previously unresectable cervical and cervical thoracic tumors.

Ames directs the Neurosurgical Spinal Deformity service that treats more than 200 patients a year for correction of scoliosis, kyphosis, flat back, chin on chest deformity in ankylosing spondylitis, basilar invagination in rheumatoid arthritis, spondylolisthesis and postoperative deformity. He also performs state-of-the-art percutaneous fusion procedures and has published extensively in spinal biomechanics and the use of resorbable polymers for spinal reconstruction. He is the 2005 winner of the prestigious International Society for Study of the Lumbar Spine research award for his work on spinal fusion in tumor reconstructions requiring radiation therapy and is a principal investigator in five randomized prospective clinical trials evaluating novel mechanisms of spinal reconstruction in tumor surgery and spinal deformity. Ames is a professor in neurological surgery.

Clinics

Neuro-Oncology Clinic
400 Parnassus Ave., Eighth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94143
Phone: (415) 353-2966
Fax: (415) 353-2167

Hours: Monday to Friday
8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Neurosurgery Clinic
400 Parnassus Ave., Eighth Floor
San Francisco, CA 94143
Phone: (415) 353-7500
Fax: (415) 353-2939

Hours: Monday to Friday
8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Spine Center
400 Parnassus Ave., Third Floor
San Francisco, CA 94143-0332
Phone: (866) 81-SPINE or Neuro-spine Fax: (415) 353-2339
Ortho-spine Fax: (415) 353-4047

Hours: Monday to Friday
8 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Conditions & Treatments

More about Christopher Ames

Education

UCLA School of Medicine 1991

Residencies

UCSD Medical Center 2001

Fellowships

Barrow Neurological Institute, Neurosurgery 2002

Selected Research and Publications

  1. Akbar M, Terran J, Ames CP, Lafage V, Schwab F. Use of surgimap spine in sagittal plane analysis, osteotomy planning, and correction calculation. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2013 Apr; 24(2):163-72.
  2. Bess S, Schwab F, Lafage V, Shaffrey CI, Ames CP. Classifications for adult spinal deformity and use of the scoliosis research society-schwab adult spinal deformity classification. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2013 Apr; 24(2):185-93.
  3. Scheer JK, Ames CP, Deviren V. Assessment and treatment of cervical deformity. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2013 Apr; 24(2):249-74.
  4. Blondel B, Schwab F, Bess S, Ames C, Mummaneni PV, Hart R, Smith JS, Shaffrey CI, Burton D, Boachie-Adjei O, Lafage V. Posterior global malalignment after osteotomy for sagittal plane deformity: it happens and here is why. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2013 Apr 1; 38(7):E394-401.
  5. Smith JS, Shaffrey CI, Fu KM, Scheer JK, Bess S, Lafage V, Schwab F, Ames CP. Clinical and radiographic evaluation of the adult spinal deformity patient. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2013 Apr; 24(2):143-56.
  6. Fu KM, Smith JS, Shaffrey CI, Ames CP, Bess S. Coronal realignment and reduction techniques and complication avoidance. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2013 Apr; 24(2):195-202.
  7. McCarthy I, Hostin R, O'Brien M, Saigal R, Ames CP. Health economic analysis of adult deformity surgery. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2013 Apr; 24(2):293-304.
  8. Hart RA, McCarthy I, Ames CP, Shaffrey CI, Hamilton DK, Hostin R. Proximal junctional kyphosis and proximal junctional failure. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2013 Apr; 24(2):213-8.
  9. Ames CP, Jian B, Shaffrey CI. Spinal deformity surgery. Neurosurg Clin N Am. 2013 Apr; 24(2):xiii-xiv.
  10. Tang JA, Leasure JM, Smith JS, Buckley JM, Kondrashov D, Ames CP. Effect of Severity of Rod Contour on Posterior Rod Failure in the Setting of Lumbar Pedicle Subtraction Osteotomy (PSO): A Biomechanical Study. Neurosurgery. 2013 Feb; 72(2):276-83.
  11. Amin BY, Tu TH, Schairer WW, Na L, Takemoto S, Berven S, Deviren V, Ames C, Chou D, Mummaneni PV. Pitfalls of calculating hospital readmission rates based on nonvalidated administrative data sets. J Neurosurg Spine. 2013 Feb; 18(2):134-8.
  12. Smith JS, Saulle D, Chen CJ, Lenke LG, Polly DW, Kasliwal MK, Broadstone PA, Glassman SD, Vaccaro AR, Ames CP, Shaffrey CI. Rates and causes of mortality associated with spine surgery based on 108,419 procedures: a review of the Scoliosis Research Society Morbidity and Mortality Database. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2012 Nov 1; 37(23):1975-82.
  13. Smith JS, Shaffrey CI, Ames CP, Demakakos J, Fu KM, Keshavarzi S, Li CM, Deviren V, Schwab FJ, Lafage V, Bess S. Assessment of symptomatic rod fracture after posterior instrumented fusion for adult spinal deformity. Neurosurgery. 2012 Oct; 71(4):862-7.
  14. Pekmezci M, McDonald E, Kennedy A, Dedini R, McClellan T, Ames C, Deviren V. Can a novel rectangular footplate provide higher resistance to subsidence than circular footplates? An ex vivo biomechanical study. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2012 Sep 1; 37(19):E1177-81.
  15. Tang JA, Scheer JK, Smith JS, Deviren V, Bess S, Hart RA, Lafage V, Shaffrey CI, Schwab F, Ames CP. The impact of standing regional cervical sagittal alignment on outcomes in posterior cervical fusion surgery. Neurosurgery. 2012 Sep; 71(3):662-9; discussion 669.
  16. Pekmezci M, Tang JA, Cheng L, Modak A, McClellan RT, Buckley JM, Ames CP. Comparison of expandable and fixed interbody cages in a human cadaver corpectomy model, part I: endplate force characteristics. J Neurosurg Spine. 2012 Oct; 17(4):321-6.
  17. Smith JS, Shaffrey CI, Lafage V, Blondel B, Schwab F, Hostin R, Hart R, O'Shaughnessy B, Bess S, Hu SS, Deviren V, Ames CP. Spontaneous improvement of cervical alignment after correction of global sagittal balance following pedicle subtraction osteotomy. J Neurosurg Spine. 2012 Oct; 17(4):300-7.
  18. Kasliwal MK, Smith JS, Shaffrey CI, Saulle D, Lenke LG, Polly DW, Ames CP, Perra JH. Short-term complications associated with surgery for high-grade spondylolisthesis in adults and pediatric patients: a report from the scoliosis research society morbidity and mortality database. Neurosurgery. 2012 Jul; 71(1):109-16.
  19. Abdul-Jabbar A, Takemoto S, Weber MH, Hu SS, Mummaneni PV, Deviren V, Ames CP, Chou D, Weinstein PR, Burch S, Berven SH. Surgical site infection in spinal surgery: description of surgical and patient-based risk factors for postoperative infection using administrative claims data. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2012 Jul 1; 37(15):1340-5.
  20. Tarapore PE, Mukherjee P, Mummaneni PV, Ames CP. The appearance of dural sealants under MR imaging. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2012 Sep; 33(8):1530-3.

Publications are derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and provided by UCSF Profiles, a service of the Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at UCSF. Researchers can make corrections and additions by logging on to UCSF Profiles.

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