University at Buffalo (UB)
Christopher Lucasti
Christopher Lucasti
Clinical Assistant Professor
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Specialty/Research Focus
Orthopaedic Surgery; Spine Surgery
Professional Summary:
Dr. Christopher Lucasti specializes in orthopedic surgery of the spine with emphasis on motion preservation, endoscopic surgery, complex spinal deformity and reconstruction, and spine trauma. He graduated from Villanova University, earned his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University, completed his orthopedic surgery residency at the University at Buffalo, and pursued advanced training in spine surgery at the prestigious Emory University.
In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Lucasti has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and more than 50 abstracts, reflecting a strong commitment to research, innovation, and evidence-based spine care. He brings a comprehensive, academically grounded approach to the treatment of both routine and highly complex spinal conditions.
As a resident and fellow he has presented at national peer attended meetings. These include- Eastern Orthopedic Society and the Cervical Spine Research Society.
Education and Training:
- Fellowship, Spine Surgery, Emory University (2026)
- Residency, Orthopedic Surgery, University at Buffalo (2025)
- MD, Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University (2020)
- BS, Chemistry, Villanova University, Cum Laude (2016)
Journal Articles:
- Frappa N, Dillon MR, Chernov D, Troiani Z, Scott MM, Lucasti C, Alben MG. (2026) Association between antidepressant use and pseudarthrosis following spinal fusion: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society (Aug), 26(8): 1609-1618.
- (2026) (Aug)
- Chipman DE, Ryan TJ, Kowalski D, Lucasti C, Scott MM, Vallee EK, Yunke A, Patel DV, Bird J, Clark LD, Kowalski JM. (2026) Characteristics of Unilateral Cervical Spine Facet Fractures: A Case Series of Adult Trauma Patients. Clinical spine surgery (Aug), 39(7): E315-E320.
- Chipman DE, Ryan TJ, Lucasti C, Kowalski D, Vallee EK, Scott MM, Yunke A, Clark LD, Kowalski JM. (2026) Traumatic Jumped Cervical Facets in Adult Patients: A Case Series. Clinical spine surgery (Jul), 39(6): E309-E314.
- Frappa N, Chernov D, Alben MG, Dillon M, Papalia AG, Riley R, Troiani Z, Lucasti C. (2026) Proton Pump Inhibitors and Histamine-2 Receptor Antagonists in Spinal Fusion: A Systematic Review. Global spine journal (May), 16(4): 1973-1979.
- Ryan TJ, Lucasti C, Chipman DE, Vallee EK, Scott MM, Kowalski JM. (2025) Tranexamic acid induced seizure during spine surgery: A case report. International journal of surgery case reports (Dec), 137: 112133.
- Troiani Z, Chipman DE, Ryan TJ, Haider MN, Kowalski D, Hasanspahic B, Scott MM, Vallee EK, Lucasti C. (2025) Efficacy of Mesenchymal and Embryonic Stem Cell Therapy for the Treatment of Spinal Cord Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Human Studies. Global spine journal (Nov), 15(8): 3969-3981.
- Lucasti C, Stube CW, Viola F, Chipman DE, Ryan TJ, Vallee EK, Scott MM, Kowalski D, Hamill CL, Muscarella JL. (2025) Primary Repair of Delayed Esophageal Perforation Following Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion. Clinical spine surgery (Aug).
- Kowalski D, Lutnick E, Vallee EK, Abdelfattah W, Troiani Z, Scott MM, Lucasti C, Haider MN, Clark L, Kowalski J. (2025) Prevalence of Complications of Patients Treated With Steroids for Acute Subaxial Cervical Spinal Cord Injuries. Clinical spine surgery (Jul).
- Bird J, Scott MM, Lucasti C, Graham BC, Kowalski D, Vallee EK, Chipman DE, Patel DV, Hamill CL. (2025) Clinical and radiographic outcomes of 19 proximal thoracic pedicle subtraction osteotomies for adult spinal deformity: a case series. Spine deformity (Jul), 13(4): 1241-1251.
- Vallee EK, Alben MG, Chipman DE, Ryan TJ, Tamweber Z, Essien I, Kowalski D, Lucasti C. (2025) Spine surgeon conflict of interest disclosure discrepancies between a national conference and the open payments database. North American Spine Society journal (Jun), 22: 100602.
- Graham BC, Lucasti C, Scott MM, Baker SC, Vallee EK, Patel DV, Hamill CL. (2025) Does Surgical Day of the Week Affect Hospital Course and Outcomes for Patients Undergoing Adult Spinal Deformity Surgery?. Global spine journal (Mar), 15(2): 1136-1142.
- Cottone C, Kim D, Lucasti C, Scott MM, Graham BC, Aronoff N, Hasanspahic B, Kowalski D, Bird J, Patel D. (2024) Causes of Intraoperative Neuromonitoring Events in Adult Spine Deformity Surgery: A Systematic Review. Global spine journal (Nov), 14(8): 2399-2407.
- Lucasti C, Vallee EK, Scott MM, Baker SC, Das AA, Patel DV. (2024) Differences in Financial Conflicts of Interest Among Participants in a National Spine Conference. Global spine journal (Sep), 14(7): 2081-2087.
- Baker SC, Lucasti C, Graham BC, Scott MM, Vallee EK, Kowalski D, Patel DV, Hamill CL. (2024) Predicting Complications in 153 Lumbar Pedicle Subtraction Osteotomies by a Single Surgeon Over a 6-Year Period. The Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (Sep), 32(18): e930-e939.
- Scott MM, Patel DV, Lucasti C, Vallee EK, Clark LD, Kowalski JM. (2024) Hospital Course and Complications of Subaxial Cervical Trauma Patients With Tetraplegia or Paraplegia: A Case Series and Literature Review. Clinical spine surgery (Apr), 37(3): E152-E157.
- Lee A, Lucasti C, Scott MM, Patel DV, Kohut K, Pavlesen S, Bayers-Thering M, Hamill CL. (2024) The Surgical Outcomes of Pedicle Subtraction Osteotomy per Different First Assistant: Retrospective Analysis of 312 Cases. The Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (Jan), 32(1): e33-e43.
- Lucasti C, Scott MM, Patel DV, Vallee EK, Graham BC, Clark L, Kowalski J. (2024) Did the Covid-19 Pandemic Impact Time to Surgery, Length of Hospital Stay, or Discharge Location for Subaxial Cervical Spine Fractures Requiring Surgical Intervention?. The Iowa orthopaedic journal (Jan), 44(2): 106-111.
- Vallee EK, Lucasti C, Scott MM, Graham BC, Doak JP, Ferrick MR, Kowalski JM. (2023) A Readability Analysis of Online Spondylolisthesis and Spondylolysis Patient Resources Among Pediatric Hospital Web Pages: A US-Based Study. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews (Nov), 7(11).
- Lucasti C, Scott MM, Vallee EK, Kowalski J. (2023) Intradural Candida Albicans infection that presented as epidural abscess: A case report. International journal of surgery case reports (Jun), 107: 108337.
- Lucasti C, Scott MM, Slowinski J, Maraschiello M, Clark LD, Kowalski JM. (2023) Early Surgical Treatment of Thoracolumbar Fractures With Thoracolumbar Injury Classification and Severity Scores Less Than 4. The Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (May), 31(9): e481-e488.
- Ghosen J, Lucasti C, Daoust S. (2022) Parvimonas micra Causing Emphysematous Osteomyelitis: A Case Report. JBJS case connector (Oct), 12(4).
- Slowinski J, Lucasti C, Maraschiello M, Kluczynski MA, Kowalski J, Hamill C. (2022) Minimally invasive spine surgery as treatment for persistent infectious lumbar spondylodiscitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) (Mar), 8(1): 1-8.
- Lucasti C, Maraschiello M, Slowinski J, Kowalski J. (2022) Prevalence of Back and Neck Pain in Orthopaedic Surgeons in Western New York. Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews (Jan), 6(1).
- Hawayek B, Lucasti C, Patel D, Maraschiello M, Kowalski J. (2021) Cardiac asystole following high spinal cord injury: a case report. Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) (Jun), 7(2): 233-237.
- Lucasti C, Patel D, Hawayek B, Maraschiello M, Kowalski J. (2021) Giant cell tumor of the thoracic spine causing acute paraplegia-a case report. Journal of spine surgery (Hong Kong) (Jun), 7(2): 208-213.
- Warrender WJ, Lucasti CJ, Ilyas A. (2021) Interobserver Reliability of 2 Classification Systems for Open Hand Fractures. Hand (New York, N.Y.) (Jan), 16(1): 57-60.
- Lucasti CJ, Dworkin M, Warrender WJ, Winters B, Cohen S, Ciccotti M, Pedowitz D. (2020) Ankle and Lower Leg Injuries in Professional Baseball Players. The American journal of sports medicine (Mar), 48(4): 908-915.
- Divi SN, Goyal DKC, Mangan JJ, Galetta MS, Nicholson KJ, Fang T, Goyal S, Booth TJ, Tarazona D, Lucasti C, Kaye ID, Kurd MF, Woods BI, Radcliff KE, Rihn JA, Anderson DG, Hilibrand AS, Kepler CK, Vaccaro AR, Schroeder GD. (2020) Are Outcomes of Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion Influenced by Presurgical Depression Symptoms on the Mental Component Score of the Short Form-12 Survey?. Spine (Feb), 45(3): 201-207.
- Boody B, Lucasti CJ, Schroeder GD, Heller JE, Vaccaro AR. (2019) Extradural Arachnoid Cyst Excision. Clinical spine surgery (Dec), 32(10): E403-E406.
- Lucasti CJ, Namdari S. (2019) Acromial Stress Fractures: A Systematic Review. The archives of bone and joint surgery (Sep), 7(5): 397-401.
- Lucasti CJ, Dworkin M, Radcliff KE, Nicholson K, Lucasti CJ, Woods BI. (2019) What Factors Predict Failure of Nonsurgical Management of a Lumbar Surgical Site Infection?. International journal of spine surgery (Jun), 13(3): 239-244.
- Wilson JR, Radcliff K, Schroeder G, Booth M, Lucasti C, Fehlings M, Ahmad N, Vaccaro A, Arnold P, Sciubba D, Ching A, Smith J, Shaffrey C, Singh K, Darden B, Daffner S, Cheng I, Ghogawala Z, Ludwig S, Buchowski J, Brodke D, Wang J, Lehman RA, Hilibrand A, Yoon T, Grauer J, Dailey A, Steinmetz M, Harrop JS. (2018) Frequency and Acceptability of Adverse Events After Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion: A Survey Study From the Cervical Spine Research Society. Clinical spine surgery (Jun), 31(5): E270-E277.
- Warrender WJ, Lucasti CJ, Ilyas AM. (2018) Wide-Awake Hand Surgery: Principles and Techniques. JBJS reviews (May), 6(5): e8.
- Warrender WJ, Lucasti CJ, Chapman TR, Ilyas AM. (2018) Antibiotic Management and Operative Debridement in Open Fractures of the Hand and Upper Extremity: A Systematic Review. Hand clinics (Feb), 34(1): 9-16.