Expert faculty debate contemporary spinal surgery across the globe

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In 2017, NASS is collaborating with societies around the world to produce diverse and high-quality educational meetings. As well as at conferences in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Surabaya, expert faculty will be discussing the most important topics in contemporary spinal surgery in Lebanon, Sudan and Thailand.

David Wong, who will be presenting in Khartoum, Sudan

17-19 February: Khartoum, Sudan

Most recently, the Sudanese Spine Society and ArabSpine held a meeting in Khartoum, Sudan. This marks the third ArabSpine Annual Conference, and the inaugural Sudanese Spine Society Conference. Featuring a multi-speciality faculty ranging from neurosurgeons to pain management specialists, the meeting offered talks covering procedural techniques and decision-making, psychological factors, epidemiology, and more.

David Wong (Denver, USA) presented a number of talks, looking at questions such as when adult degeneration becomes deformity, how to improve lumbar microdiscectomy outcomes and what should constitute instability in degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis. David O’Brien (Winston Salem, USA) discussed the case for sacroiliac joint fusion, when to perform surgery in cervical myelopathy cases, and how psychological factors can change surgical outcomes.

The faculty also included Tony Tannoury (Boston, USA), Eeric Truumees (Austin, USA), Frank Acosta (Los Angeles, USA), Bambang Darwano (Jakarta, Indonesia) and Ralf Wagner (Frankfurt, Germany).

The conference was held at the five-star Al Salam Rotana, a luxury hotel just a few minutes from Khartoum International Airport.

Eeric Truumees will also present in Khartoum

4 March: Beirut, Lebanon

This March will host the first Beirut Annual Spine Symposium (BASS), hosted by the North American Spine Society (NASS) and the Lebanese Society of Neurological Surgeons (LSNS), in joint partnership with the Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland, USA).

Diagnostic and treatment modalities for cervical spine pathology are improving all the time, often faster than the literature can comprehensively report. Directed by Ibrahim Omeis and George Abi Saad (Beirut, Lebanon), the inaugural BASS meeting will use lectures, discussions, presentations and Q&A sessions to enable participants to improve their understanding of a range of topics. A tumour session co-moderated by neurosurgeon Patrick Hsieh (Los Angeles, USA) will look at evidence-based parameters for tumour management. Best practice approaches to spinal trauma will be covered by speakers including Hseih and John Finkenburg (San Diego, USA), who also will give talks on cervical degeneration.

The BASS course has been approved by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. Participants will be awarded up to seven American Medical Association PRA Category 1 credits.

29 June – 2 July: Bangkok, Thailand

Focusing on the latest in minimally invasive spinal surgery, the 3rd annual ASEANMISST and 6th annual ACMISST meetings will take place in Bangkok, Thailand, from 29-30 June, followed by a cadaveric workshop from 1-2 July. Organised by Rajavithi Hospital in Bangkok and the Thai Society for Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery and Techniques (ThaiSMISST), the event seeks to investigate new techniques and approaches in a rapidly-expanding arena.

NASS will be holding a half-day session featuring expert faculty members, including Jeffrey Wang (Los Angeles, USA), Joseph Cheng (New Haven, USA), David O’Brien (Winston Salem, USA), Daniel Kim (Houston, USA), Choll Kim (San Diego, USA), and a number of international spinal surgeons.