David J. Wallace
The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center
Papers
5
Total Citations
291
H-Index
5
About
David J. Wallace is a prominent spine surgeon and researcher whose work has significantly advanced the field of minimally invasive and robot-assisted spine surgery. His research focuses primarily on the accuracy and safety of pedicle screw placement using navigated robotic systems, a technically demanding aspect of spinal surgery where even small errors can have serious consequences for patients. Wallace's most influential contributions emerged in 2019, when he published a series of landmark studies examining robotic-assisted pedicle screw accuracy across multiple dimensions. His work, which has collectively garnered over 290 citations, established clinical benchmarks for robotic navigation systems in real-world surgical settings. Notably, his study analyzing 600 pedicle screws at a single institution provided compelling large-scale evidence that navigated robotic assistance meaningfully improves surgical precision in lumbosacral procedures. Perhaps most uniquely, Wallace investigated whether attending surgeons and residents achieve comparable screw placement accuracy with robotic guidance — an important question for surgical training and patient safety. His more recent 2023 research extended these findings to the more challenging thoracic spine, where smaller pedicle dimensions increase placement difficulty. Through rigorous clinical evaluation, Wallace has helped establish navigated robotic surgery as a reliable, reproducible standard of care in modern spine surgery.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 2Robot-Assisted Pedicle Screw Placement: Learning Curve Experience68 citations · 2019
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