AO Spine Latin America Newsletter

Keeping the community connected through news, research, and education.

Newsletter

Issue 15, Noviembre 2019

Abstract results for Global Spine Congress 2020

Spine professionals from 61 countries submitted their abstracts to the Global Spine Congress (GSC). This is a chance to present their research and findings at one of the largest spine meetings taking place in 2020. GSC 2020 takes place in the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro from May 20–23, 2020.

Learn minimally invasive spine surgery in our specimen courses

AO Spine Latin America Specimen Courses—Minimally invasive surgery
February 6-8, 2020, Palm Beach (US)

From February 6-8, 2020 the AO Spine Latin America Specimen Courses—Minimally invasive surgery will take place in Palm Beach (US). It will be the first specimen courses in Latin America focused on minimally invasive spine surgery after the MISS Curriculum launching on May 2019. The training will introduce and expand knowledge for spine surgeons (orthopedist or neurosurgeon) interested in minimally invasive spine surgery. Cristiano Menezes (BR) is the chairperson and the educational advisor is Néstor Taboada (CO).

Last days to apply to the 2020 AO Spine International Observership Program

The application process for AO Spine Latin American members is open.

The application period for the 2020 AO Spine International Observership Program opened on September 5 and continues until November 30. The program was developed to ensure that the knowledge and skills acquired in AO educational events are applied in the daily work of spine surgeons in the region. It is an outstanding way for Latin American members to advance their professional careers with the benefit of improving the care of their patients. During their observerships, participants will learn and develop skills by observing highly skilled spine surgeons work with one specific technique or pathology, such as minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS), trauma, deformity or tumor.

Candidates can select an area and an expert:

Trauma: Carlo Bellabarba (US), Pedro Bazán (AR)
Tumor: Claudio Tatsui (US), Alessandro Gasbarrini (IT)
Pediatric deformity: Jean Ouellet (CA), Munish Gupta (US), Carlos Montero (CO),
Luis Eduardo Rocha (BR)
Adult deformity: Claudio Lamartina (IT) and Pedro Berjano (IT), Barón Zárate (MX),
Emiliano Vialle (BR)
MISS: Khai Lam (GB), Roger Härtl (US), Cristiano Menezes (BR), Néstor Taboada (CO),
Alejandro Morales (AR)

AO Spine has a new look

The AO has a new look and feel online. This digital rebranding has given our online presence a much-needed new look. You will see that the AO Spine website and our key social media pages: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, have been rebranded in this new fresh, bold design.

This is a significant milestone in our digital transformation, and in AO Spine's evolution, as we seek to ensure we remain relevant to younger generations of surgeons across the world who share our mission.

Transitioning to the new brand is a gradual process, and for the next nine months you will see both old and new branding used. The AO Davos Courses 2019, the AO's flagship educational event, will be the first to move fully to the new branding.

Should you have any questions about the rebranding, please let us know.

Launch of AO Surgery Reference for Metastatic Spine Tumor

Access recommended surgical techniques at a moment’s notice anytime, anywhere, on hand-held devices.

The AO Spine Knowledge Forum Tumor treatment recommendations and classifications for metastatic spine tumor have been adopted and implemented into the AO Surgery Reference. This module will highlight the key considerations and surgical indications, when it comes to the evaluation of the metastatic spine tumor patient.

Call for country councils' elections will be open soon

AO Spine Latin America is pleased to announce the election for country councils' positions.

The call for the country councils' elections will be open soon. The positions are in Colombia, for chairperson and education ortho and in Mexico, for chairperson. The elected members will hold the positions as of February 1st, 2020. Every AO Spine member who are willing to contribute to the development of the organization in their country and who meet the requirements are eligible.

Once the candidatures are validated by the electoral committee, the electronic election process will begin. Only members, with a paid membership when voting starts will be entitled to one vote and will do it anonymously through their profile on our website www.aospine.org.

To be elected the candidate needs to reach a simple majority of valid votes (>50%). In case that none of the candidates reaches the majority, it will be necessary to hold a second round of voting with the two most voted candidates.

Discover the skills you need to integrate basic full-endoscopic techniques into your practice

Introduction level course on Endoscopy
AO Davos Courses, December 8-11, 2019

This three-day AO Spine course is designed for spine surgeons who are new to or have gained first experience in the field of full-endoscopic spine surgery—a rapidly emerging evolution of minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS). Covering basic transforaminal and lumbar approaches to the lumbar spine, the course will highlight the foundations of full-endoscopic surgical technique.

Successful AO PEER course in Buenos Aires

The AO PEER Course Level 1: Principles of Clinical Research—Short, took place in Buenos Aires (AR) last month. The co-chairpersons were William Belangero (BR) from AO Trauma, Ricardo de Holanda Vasconcellos (BR) from AO CMF, Marcelo Valacco (AR), from AO Spine, and André Zoppa (BR) from AO VET. The Faculty group had Gaston Camino Willhuber (AR), Juan Guyot (AR), Eduardo Mazzaro (AR), Diego Quinteros (AR), and Danilo Taype Zamboni (AR). This was the first edition of an AO PEER course in the city.

The goal of this course was to introduce the principles of clinical research, including skills and knowledge on why and how to do research, how to build a good research environment, and where to find additional resources, tools, and reference packages to support a research project.

According to Santiago Lamarca (AR) the course helped him to understand better what is relevant when doing research. "The course showed me how important is to have a professional dedicated to statistics within the group as well as to work together with an ethics committee. I learned the basic principles to do research projects that most impact the medical community".

Participants learned about the importance of research and evidence-based medicine (EBM), the relevant ethical considerations and guidelines for Good Clinical Practice (GCP) with a focus on the formulation of a clinical research question.

The learning objectives were:
• Explain the importance of doing research and the link to evidence-based medicine.
• Apply the basic principles of literature search and critical appraisal.
• Follow GCP guidelines and adhere to ethical requirements, e.g., informed consent.
• Identify a clinical problem, formulate a clinical research question, and select the study
design.
• Collaborate with a statistician to perform sample size calculation and basic statistical
analyses.
• Describe the principles of medical writing.
• Utilize available research environment, resources, and tools.

Global Spine Journal—top articles of the fall

Global Spine Journal is pleased to congratulate Deputy Editor Michael Fehlings on receiving the Ryman Prize. The Ryman Prize is a $250,000 annual award for the world’s best development, advance or achievement that enhances quality of life for older people. Dr Fehlings is also the one who spearheaded our most successful issue to date “Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy and Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury”.

Event Calendar

November 2019 — February 2020

	AO Spine Advanced Seminar—MISS. Neuromar November 21-22, 2019			Mar del Plata
	AO Spine Principles Course November 22-23, 2019			Lima
	AO Spine Advanced Course—Degenerative spine November 22-23, 2019			Lima
	AO Spine Webinar VI {Case-based} November 23, 2019			Online

	AO Spine Webinar—Cervical disc herniation {1 hour} December 03, 2019			Online
	AO Spine Advanced Seminar—MISS and degenerative spine. SEOT December 06, 2019			Cuenca
	AO Spine Hospital Based Seminar—Deformity December 07, 2019			Curitiba
	AO Spine Hospital Based Seminar—Degenerative spine December 14, 2019			Montevideo

	AO Spine Latin America Specimen Course—Minimally invasive surgery (Level 1) February 06-07, 2020			Palm Beach
	AO Spine Latin America Specimen Course—Minimally invasive surgery (Level 2) February 07-08, 2020			Palm Beach

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