Thursday kicked off with a Values and Outcomes in Spine Surgery session, with Michael Wang and Alex Vacarro at the helm. The NSQIP database showed the utility of large datasets in the first presentation; it was used to determine costs as well as outcomes. The more data you collect, the more it can be sliced into fascinating findings.

A brief break on the Exhibit Floor (thank you, exhibitors!) was followed by the Adult Deformity Spine Section, moderated by Hee Kit Wong and Izzy Lieberman. Neel Anand took the stage to discuss segmental lordosis, and found that different operative levels change the degree of lordosis, even using the same lordotic cages. Dr. Hey of Singapore reports that sitting and standing kyphosis imaging can provide crucial guidance to surgeons. Barthelemey Liabaud provided some tips to prevent rod breakage (examining the influence of rod material, diameter, and fusion).

Mid-morning we had the Presidential Address; Hee Kit Wong provided an overview of the international nature of the Society, highlighting global contributors to program and Journal. He then introduced Robin Young, whose State of Spine speech returned to ISASS this year by popular demand!

ISASS16 Presidential Guest Speaker Robin Young (left) and ISASS Co-President Hee Kit Wong (right).

Photo: ISASS16 Presidential Guest Speaker Robin Young (left) and ISASS Co-President Hee Kit Wong (right).

After a thorough overview of the state of the industry and some due attention given to hot new technologies, we began the Lumbar Session, moderated by Jack Zigler & Sajan Hegde.

After the adult spine symposium (which Alex Vacarro headed up) came the pediatric session, moderated by Gunnar Andersson & Luiz Pimenta. Morphometric analyses and trauma were the order of the day!

At the awards ceremony, Hee Kit Wong, Gunnar Andersson, Dom Coric, Lisa Ferrara, and Leonard Voronov presented the awards for best overall paper, best basic science paper, and best clinical paper. Massimo Balsano presented the award for best poster and the Kostiuk Innovation Award:

Sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Hansen Yuan
Best overall Paper, The ISASS Leon Wiltse Award

#366: The Positive Effect of Continued Motion of a Cervical Artificial Disc Replacement on Radiographic Adjacent Level Degeneration at Long Term Follow-Up
Presenting Author: Jeffrey Spivak

Best Clinical Paper, The Charles D. Ray Award
#617: Long Term Experience with Reduction Technique in High Grade Spondylolisthesis in the Young
Presenting Author: Sudarshan Pramod

Best Basic Science Paper
#246: Sagittal Balance Considerations In Planning Multilevel Cervical Intervention: Effect of Arthroplasty vs. Fusion on Adjacent Segment Motions
Presenting Author: Saeed Khayatzadeh

Best Poster
#467: Disc Gene Therapy: Development of a novel inducible system to regulate expression of the therapeutic transgene TIMP1
Presenting Author: Zhihua Ouyang

Sponsored by Tom Errico, MD
Kostiuk Innovation Award

#492: The Incidence of Adjacent Segment Disease and Index Level Revision and Outcomes of Secondary Surgical Intervention Following Single Level Lumbar Total Disc Replacement
Presenting Author: Matthew Scott-Young

ISASS16 Awards Ceremony, presenters and award winners.

Photo: ISASS16 Awards Ceremony, presenters and award winners.

We kicked off the second Cervical panel, moderated by Matthew Scott-Young, with Lianna Chotikul taking the stage to explain ACDF survivorship using an interesting technique: a combined integrated plate, PEEK interbody spacer, and integral screws.

Finally, the night ended—as all good nights should!—with a glass of wine and several Spine Talks from luminaries like Ali Araghi and Matthew Scott-Young. Another beautiful and educational day down, but we’re not done yet. Tomorrow’s another day of becoming a better spine surgeon!

Thank you,

ISASS

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