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Sean Christie, MD, FRCSC Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Division of Neurosurgery, Dalhousie University Medical Staff, QEII Health Sciences Centre Director of Research, Neurosurgery Website | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it | Publications Tel: (902) 473-2096

Research

Advancing spinal surgery and care

Dr. Sean Christie is a neurosurgeon and clinician scientist. In the lab, he is developing an understanding of the mechanisms of secondary injury following spinal cord injury and investigating potential treatment strategies that can be translated into clinical applications. At the same time, he is actively involved in clinical and health systems research to improve delivery of care to patients undergoing spine surgery. These studies encompass:

• looking at improved techniques, and developing novel treatment approaches and health economic evaluations
• developing synoptic reporting to enhance accuracy of reports
• computer modelling to determine predictors of outcomes
  developing electronic referral systems.

Academic background

Sean Christie completed undergraduate studies in chemistry at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax before entering medical school at Dalhousie University. During his residency training in neurosurgery at Dalhousie, he embarked on PhD studies in neural transplantation with Dr. Ivar Mendez. Following his residency, Dr. Christie completed fellowships in neurosurgery and spinal surgery at the University of Chicago, before returning to Halifax to join the faculty in the Department of Surgery, Division of Neurosurgery. He has received numerous awards, scholarships and honours for his research and clinical achievements.

 Selected Publications

Dvorak MF, Noonan VK, Fallah N, Fisher CG, Rivers CS, Ahn H, Tsai EC, Linassi AG, Christie SD, Attabib N, Hurlbert RJ, Fourney DR, Johnson MG, Fehlings MG, Drew B, Bailey CS, Paquet J, Parent S, Townson A, Ho C, Craven BC, Gagnon D, Tsui D, Fox R, Mac-Thiong JM, Kwon BK.  Minimizing errors in acute traumatic spinal cord injury trials by acknowledging the heterogeneity of spinal cord anatomy and injury severity: an observational canadian cohort analysis. J Neurotrauma. 31(18): 1540-7.

Dvorak MF, Noonan VK, Fallah, N, Fisher CG, Finkelstein J, Kwon BK, Rivers CS, Ahn H, Paquet J, Tsai EC, Townson A, Attabib N, Bailey CS, Christie SD, Drew B, Fourney DR, Fox R, Hurlbert RJ, Johnson MG, Linassi AG, Parent S, Fehlings MG and The RHSCIR Network.  The Influence of Time from Injury to Surgery on MotorRecovery and Length of Hospital Stay in Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: An Observational Canadian Cohort Study. J Neurotrauma. (31): 1-10.

Robichaud A, Christie SD.Diagnosis and Management of Cervical Myelopathy.  Journal of Current Clinical Care. 5(2): 24-40.

Haji FA, Clarke DB., Matte MC, Brandman DM, Brien S, de Ribaupierre S, O’Kelly C, Christie S, McDonald PJ, Kulkarni AV, Walling S and MacLeod A.  Teaching for the Transition: the Canadian PGY-1 Neurosurgery ‘Rookie Camp’.Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. 42: 25-33.

Thibault- Halman G, Rivers C, Bailey C, et al. (2017).  Predicting Recruitment Feasibility for Acute Spinal Cord Injury ClinicalTrials in Canada Using National Registry Data.  Journal of Neurotrauma. 34(3): 599-606.

Tso MK, Dakson A, Ahmed SU, Bigder M, Elliott C, Guha D, Iorio-Morin C, Kameda-Smith M, Lavergne P, Makarenko S, Taccone MS, Wang B, Winkler-Schwartz A1, Sankar T, Christie SD. (2017).  Operative Landscape at Canadian Neurosurgery Residency Programs.  Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences.

Dakson A, Tso MK, Ahmed SU, Bigder M, Elliott C, Guha D, Lavergne P, Makarenko S, Iorio-Morin C, Kameda-Smith M, Taccone MS, Wang BH, Winkler-Schwartz A, Sankar T, Christie SD; Canadian Neurosurgery Research Collaborative. (2017).  Launch of the Canadian Neurosurgery Research Collaborative.  Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. 44(2): 204-206.

Abidi S, Singh A, Christie S. (2016).  Transcription of case report forms from unstructured referral letters: A semantic text analytics approach.Stud Health Techno Inform. 228: 322-326.

Wu Y, Streijger F, Wang Y, et al. (2016).  Cerebrospinal fluid and serum for identifying biomarkers of injury severity after acute human spinal cord injury.  Scientific Reports.

Pencle F, Kureshi N, Benstead T, Christie S. (2016).  Critical illness myopathy in a cervical spine-injured patient.  Spinal Cord Ser Cases. 14(2)

Larouche J, Yee A, Wadey V, et al. (2016).  Development of a Completence-Based Spine Surgery Fellowship Curriculum Set of Learning Objectives in Canada.Spine. 41(6): 530-537.

Godbout H*, Christie S. (2016).  Cervical Radiculopathy: Diagnosis and Management.  J Curr Clin Care. 6(3): 23-33.

Evaniew N, Noonan VK, Fallah N, Kwon BK, Rivers CS, Ahn H, Bailey CS, Christie SD, Fourney DR, Hurlbert J, Linassi AG, Fehlings MG, Dvorak MF, and The RHSCIR Network. (2015).  Methylprednisolone for the Treatment of Patients with Acute Spinal Cord Injuries: A Propensity Score-Matched Cohort Study from a Canadian Multi-Center Spinal Cord Injury Registry.JOURNAL OF NEUROTRAUMA. 32: 1674-1683.

Ahn H, Bailey CS, Rivers CS, Noonan VK, Tsai EC, Fourney DR, Attabib N, Kwon BK, Christie SD, Fehlings MG, Finkelstein J, Hurlbert J, Townson A, Parent S, Drew B, Chen J, Dvorak MF, and Rick Hansen Spinal Cord Injury Registry Network. (2015).  Effect of older age on treatment decisions and outcomes among patients with traumatic spinal cord injury.  CMAJ. 187(12): 873-80.

Paterson GI, Christie SD, Bonney W and Thibault-Halman G. (2015).  Synoptic operative reports for spinal cord injury patients as a tool for data quality.  Health Informatics Journal. : 1-8.

Borgström F, Beall DP, Berven S, Boonen S, Christie S, Kallmes DF, Kanis JA, Olafsson G, Singer AJ and Åkesson K. (2014).  Health economic aspects of vertebral augmentation procedures.Osteoporos Int. Online

Bonney W , Christie S , Paterson G , Thibault-Halman G , Alsulaiman A. (2013).Design and implementation of synoptic operative report template using interoperable standards.Studies in health technology and informatics. 183

Thibault-Halman G , Casha S , Singer S , Christie S. (2011).  Acute management of nutritional demands after spinal cord injury.Journal of neurotrauma. 28(8)

Christie S, Thibault-Halman G, Casha S. (2011).  Acute pharmacological DVT prophylaxisafter spinal cord injury.  Journal of Neurotrauma. 28(8): 1509-1514.

Kiberd MB, Macaulay RJ, Christie SD. Skull Base Hemangiopericytoma: Treatment Options. The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences 37(1):131-124, 2010.

Casha S, Christie S. A systematic review of intensive cardiopulmonary management after spinal cord injury. Accepted to Journal of Neurotrauma, 2009.

Kim DH, O'Toole JE, Ogden AT, Eichholz KM, Song J, Christie SD, Fessler RG. Minimally invasive posterolateral thoracic corpectomy: cadaveric feasibility study and report of four clinical cases. Neurosurgery 64(4):746-52, 2009.

Christie SD, Comeau B, Myers T, Sadi D, Purdy M and Mendez I. Time Course and Effects of Methylprednisolone on Lipid Peroxidation Levels after Acute Spinal Cord Injury in Rats. Neurosurgery Focus,25(5):E5- 1-7, 2008.

Tredway TL, Musleh W, Christie SD, Khavkin Y, Fessler RG, Curry DJ. A Novel Minimally Invasive Technique for Spinal Cord Untethering. Operative Neurosurgery 60: ONS70-74, 2007.