Go to the Duck Key Spine Meeting
Courtesy of Hawks Cay Resort Antonio Castellvi, M.D.’s Current Solutions in Spine Surgery opens for business April 18 and we strongly urge all who perform spine surgery or work with those who do to attend. This four-day meeting, held on Florida’s beautiful Duck Key, is one of the most consistently excellent educational seminars held every year. As we looked at this year’s agenda, we were again impressed with the focus and range of Dr. Castellvi’s program.
Focus on New Technology
For example, at a time when innovation in spine seems to be in retreat, Dr. Castellvi has attracted a large number of new technology speakers. Here are some of the new technologies talks Dr. Castellvi has scheduled:
The Use of Stem Cells in Spinal Fusions
The Role of Cells as Trophic Implants
Shape Memory Hydrogels and Nucleus Augmentation
Electrical Stimulation in Fusion
Robotics in Spine Surgery
Sacroiliac Bone Fusion
Advances in Vertebral Body Augmentation
Nano Technology
Micro and Nano Technology
Efficacy of Nanostructured Titania in the Management of Infection Due to Spinal Implants
KineGraph VMA
The Duck Key meeting is unique for the time and proximity attendees have to speakers and course directors. After the stem cell talk, for example, attendees will have significant amounts of unhurried quality time to question and discuss these topics privately with the speaker and other attendees—many of whom are leading clinical and basic researchers in their own right.
After the talks, Dr. Castellvi has also organized hands-on sawbones workshops.
The other distinguishing feature of the Duck Key meeting is its focus on biomechanics. Dr. Castellvi has always had a bit of a bias toward understanding the biomechanics of implants and different procedural approaches, so, as in prior years, he’s loaded this year’s program with speakers like Vijay Goel, Ph.D., Lisa Ferrara, Ph.D. and Brandon Santoni, Ph.D.—who are among the most published basic researchers in the biomechanics of the spine.
Here, for example, are some of the biomechanics talks that Dr. Castellvi has scheduled:
Biomechanics of Smart Implants
Biomechanics of STALIF C vs. Plate
Biomechanical Comparison C1-C2 Fixation
New Method for Performance Analysis of Pedicle Screw Designs
Titanium vs. Peek–Does Implant Material Matter?
Lateral Cage Kinematics with Plate/PSC
Stability Lateral Cage with Facet Screws
Biomechanics of Proximal Junction Kyphosis
Effects of a Conforming Inter Body Bone Graft vs Non-Conforming Inter Body Bone Graft on Spinal Segment Stability
Biomechanical Consideration in Cervical and Lumbar Disc Pathology
Course Objectives
Surgeons who attend can expect to leave having achieved the following objectives:
Improved ability to assess and critique new spine technologies along several criteria but certainly in terms of current treatment options
Discuss the most recent information regarding motion preservation devices
Review clinical outcomes from motion sparing devices
Discuss biomechanics in both cervical and lumbar spine and how fusion affects motion
Summarize evidence-based information and discuss current controversies in spine surgery
Among the speakers are faculty and department chairs from the following teaching institutions:
University of South Florida
University of Toledo
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
University of California San Francisco
University of Pittsburgh
University of California San Diego
Brown University
University of Pennsylvania
Drexel University College of Medicine
Yale University
New York University
Osteoporosis Course
This year, William Welch, M.D., FACS, FICS, Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania is hosting a special session on the medical treatment of osteoporosis. As more and more patients present with compromised bone quality, this will become an ever more urgent issue for surgeons who rely on bone quality to support successful treatments. Few companies, we believe, fully appreciate the coming scope of this problem.
This year (2012) nearly 12 million people over 50 years old in the United States have osteoporosis and more than three times that number (40 million) have low bone mass.
By 2020, the numbers rise to 14 million with osteoporosis and 47 million with low bone mass. The problem, though, is that such an increase will triple the incidence rates of osteoporotic fractures.
The lifetime risk of osteoporotic fractures in women is 30-50%. In men the risk is 15-20% (Randell A, Sambrook PN, Nguyen TV, et al. (1995) Direct clinical and welfare costs of osteoporotic fractures in elderly men and women. Osteoporosis International 5:427). Virtually every spine fusion patient today will have to worry about compromised bone quality and therefore subsidence and fixation quality if they live long enough. In terms of geography, the highest risk of osteoporosis is in five countries with America topping the list. The other countries are Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark.
Thirty five percent of postmenopausal women have osteoporosis of the spine, hip or forearm.
So, the program put together by Drs. Welch and Castellvi about osteoporosis could not be more timely. Here are some of the subjects:
Biomechanics of Senescent Spine
Pitfalls in Elderly Spine Surgery
Imaging in Osteoporosis
Medical Treatment of Osteoporosis
Percutaneous Vertebral Augmentation for Osteoporotic Fractures
Biopsy and Kyphoplasty
Hawks Cay
Dr. Castellvi decided to put his course at the Hawk’s Cay resort on Duck Key. It was a brilliant decision. Hawks Cay is a luxury resort that is also an outstanding family vacation destination. Pictures actually do not do the resort justice. Located midway down the Florida Keys on the tropical 60-acre island of Duck Key, the area offers some of the world's best fishing; exciting water sports; dolphin interaction programs; a saltwater lagoon; five gorgeous swimming pools; and a variety of luxurious accommodations, including guest rooms, suites and villas.
Bottom line, this is my favorite spine meeting of the year. No other meeting compares in terms of new technology and biomechanics training or a relaxing get away.
See you all there.
To register and for more information go to this website.
