OUR PICK FOR BEST SMALL SPINE SURGEON MEETING
Remember this old saw? We retain 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what is discussed with others, 80% of what we experience personally and 95% of what we teach to someone else.
That is why, in a nutshell, small spine meetings are so much better for physicians who want to improve their practice or their skills than the mega-meetings and why, Dr. Antonio Castellvi’s annual meeting in Duck Key, Florida is the best of the best small meetings.
At small meetings time is on your side, not your enemy. Which is to say that you won’t see cattle calls at the podium or death by PowerPoint or wham, bam, thank you ma’am science.
With the luxury of time, people who attend these small meetings receive the greatest professional gifts of all—discussion, debate and thoughtful dialogue with the best clinicians and researchers.
Replacing the clock with an extended review of each faculty member’s most recent clinical work, or new technique, or perhaps a new tool or implant, or study or a complication has the effect of, well, changing the entire experience. At small meetings something magical happens called learning.
There are several very good small meetings each year. Generally, these meetings reflect the character of the organizer(s). Another of our personal favorites is the one founded by Drs. Frank Phillips, Alex Vacarro and Todd Albert. It is generally held each year in Los Cabos, Mexico and because of their personal reputations, these three teachers and practitioners attract the cream of the cream of podium speakers. This year’s June 20-22 meeting is called the State of Spine Surgery: A Think Tank (www.stegrp.org).
Dr. Antonio Castellvi’s meeting, though, is our favorite. Like Tony, this meeting is about practical, bread and butter learning. He does this by organizing the format in such a way as to engage his audience and faculty in especially effective ways. Hands down, it is the most interactive of all the spine meetings.
If you’ve never attended before, this could be your best meeting yet.
Current Solutions in Spine Surgery
Tony’s meeting is officially called the Current Solutions in Spine Surgery and it will be held in just a couple weeks from May 1 to May 4.
Here is the website.
Don’t forget to register.
This year Tony has added some key sessions which should excite and please most practitioners. On Friday, May 3, Tony has created an entire session on access and his faculty is terrific. Look at how Tony organized these lectures:
- Opening case, Tony asked Marc Weinstein, M.D. (Florida Orthopaedic Institute, Yale Medical School, Fellowship Cornell University and Hospital for Special Surgery) to start the session with a case. At Tony’s meeting, when a case is presented it’s like a fully interactive grand rounds.
- Next up is Anders Cohen, DO (Chief of Neurosurgery & Spine Surgery, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, NY) who is going to tackle portals LIFS.
- After Dr. Cohen, the session dives into robotics with Dr. William Welch’s (Professor of Neurosurgery, Chair Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania Hospital) talk about doing lumbar spine surgery with the da Vinci Si robotic surgical systems.
- As if that wasn’t enough, Tony was able to attract Alfredo Fernandez, M.D. (Tampa Bariatrics) to discuss laparoscopic exposure of L5/S1
- And following that is Donald Whiting, M.D., FACS (Associate Professor, Drexel University College of Medicine) who will address the always interesting topic of multidimensional surgical imaging.
Since this is Tony’s course, the session ends with yet another interactive case discussion—also led by Marc Weinstein.
Complications
Other than new technology or reimbursement, the two most interesting topics are complications and minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Tony, as he always does, jumps right into the discussion of MIS and complications. Fearlessly. Tony has assembled ten great cases which, we know from experience, will spark a full and active discussion. Here’s the line-up for the Saturday complication seminar:
- Complications of NSAID
- Personal experience complex cervical adjacent level disc degeneration
- Loss of lordosis complications, sagittal alignment and disc degeneration in the cervical spine
- Proximal junction kyphosis in the lumbar spine
- Loss of sagittal/coronal balance in lumbar spine surgery
- Complications of axial lumbar interbody
- XLIF potential risks and complications
And the faculty for this session is outstanding with Jean-Jacques Abitbol, M.D., FRCSC (Co-Founder California Spine Group and a past president of the North American Spine Society), Pierce Nunley, M.D. (Medical Director, Spine Institute of Louisiana), Sig Berven, M.D. (Professor in Residence, Director, Fellowship and Resident Education), Dom Coric, M.D. (Chief of Neurosurgery, Carolinas Medical Center), Reginald David, M.D. (Director of Neurosurgery, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Ken Pettine, M.D. (Founder The Spine Institute and Board Certified Spine Surgeon), Chuck Procuniar, ARNP (Florida Orthopaedic Institute) and Farhan Siddiqui, M.D. (Trinity Musculoskeletal Institute).
Innovation
For many reasons—two of the most prominent being reimbursement and an ever more sluggish and barely rational FDA process—the golden age of innovation in spine appears to have passed…except at Tony’s meeting.
The session on Emerging Technologies, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 4, will cover the following topics:
- Functional spinal unit reconstruction
- MIS treatment for sacroiliac joint disorders
- Fusion biologics
- KineGraph vertebral motion analyzer
- Nano Technologies
- Anatomic Membrane and Tissue technologies
- Direct decompression vs. standard micro-decompression
- Ollif Safety study
- Lumbar artificial disc replacement comparison
But Wait, There’s Still More
The other sessions include extended discussions of Adult Deformity, Lumbar Spine Surgery, Cervical Spine Surgery and Biomechanics.
And then, after the sessions, Tony has organized a series of hands-on labs. And, of course, the manufacturers’ section—which you can find by following your nose (that’s where the food is)—shows off the latest and greatest tools, implants and, increasingly, techniques.
Hawk’s Cay at Duck Key
And then there is the venue. Somewhere between Miami and Key West is a beautiful resort called Hawk’s Cay on an island called Duck Key. The water is blue and clear ringed with palm trees. Here’s a picture.
Saltwater Lagoon / Courtesy of Hawk’s Cay
The resort is family friendly (so bring the family) yet also organized to allow for collegial discussions and hands-on training.
For those who like to fish, Hawk’s Cay’s dock puts you within reach of a reef, the Gulf Stream and backcountry flats. If you need a guide, Hawk’s Cay has them and anyone, from the beginner to the expert, will have a terrific experience.
Hawk’s Cay is also close to the only living coral reef in the continental U.S. with a staff who will help you prepare to dive—whether to the coral reef or a shipwreck or even a night dive.
Finally, literally outside the meeting rooms, is the Hawk Cay’s famous Dolphin Connection where a number of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins are also residents and will swim with the two-legged mammals like us. The Dolphin Connection is also a dolphin research facility (the only one of its kind in the continental U.S.).
Lastly, Hawk’s Cay has an excellent kiteboarding program where the more adventurous family members or even attendees to the conference can let the island breezes lift them dozens of feet into the air.
Get Thee to Duck Key
Every year Dr. Castellvi infuses his meetings with a commitment to learning through discussion, debate, case study and hands on training. You can’t attend Tony’s meeting without engaging in a broad based dialogue with some of the smartest, most accomplished clinicians and researchers in spine care today.
In our experience, this is the best of the small spine meetings. So, get thee to Duck Key—and bring your family.