AMSTERDAM /// MONDAY, 28 May 2012 /// Spineweek2012.com /// ISSUE 1
Eurospine 2012 Welcome to Amsterdam! As local hosts we are proud to organize the SpineWeek 2012 in Amsterdam, after the previous successful events in Porto (2004) and Geneva (2008). We would also like to extend a warm welcome to you on behalf of the Dutch Spine Society, the national spine society of the Netherlands.
Marinus de Kleuver
Spineweek is a unique opportunity for you to come to one of the world’s largest spine conferences, to learn from the programs organized by multiple excellent spine societies from all over the world, that you might not normally come into contact with. This will allow you to meet new ideas, innovations, colleagues, patient associations and of course the medical industries. This year the following societies will provide you with their top scientific programs: Spine Society of Europe (SSE), the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS), Cervical Spine Research Society (CSRS), Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), North American Spine Society (NASS), Sociedad Iberolatinoamericana de Columna Vertebral (SILACO) and the Brasilian Spine Society (BSS). We expect more than 3,000 par-
Welcome Address by the President of EuroSpine ticipants from all over the world to come to this meeting.
in a very professionnal way. European courses in english were followed by regional meetings in French, German, Spanish, Italian and Turkish. The education week hosted in Lucern was a great success. Marco Brayda Bruno, EduCom Chair and Gerard Vanacker, CEO of the EuroS pine Foundation, were the keys for the success of this course attended by over 100 surgeons with theoretical and practical sessions in cadlabs. I would like to thank all the faculties who attended and provided their help for this course.
Amsterdam has always been a wonderful city, where culture, science and medicine meet. Amsterdam is the „Venice of the North“, with wonderful canals and beautiful historic buildings, in some of which we will host the society dinners. The famous painting by Rembrandt „Anatomy Lesson“ was painted in Amsterdam in 1632. And of course we have all heard of “Tulips from Amsterdam”. Whilst you are here for this great meeting, there is much for you to see and do! All societies will have their own scientific programs, which are free for all participants. Furthermore each society will have its own social event, for which you must register separately, but you do not need to be a member of a society to join its evening event. On Monday we have a welcome reception for all participants and on Thursday we have the all societies gala event in the “Concertgebouw”. Finally, we would like to encourage those of you who are currently not involved in one of the societies, to be open to the possibilities it can offer you, and the benefits that such a membership would bring to your practice. You are all welcome to join! We wish you a great stay in Amsterdam! Barend van Royen Marinus de Kleuver Wilco Peul Ronald Bartels
Jean Charles Le Huec- President of EuroSpine, the Spine Society of Europe
Dear Friends and Colleagues, It is my great honour to invite you to join the Society at its next annual scientific meeting at Spineweek 2012, to be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands from May 28 to June 1. Spineweek is the biggest spine meeting of this year, it promises to be a great scientific and social success. The EuroSpine meeting is regularly attended by over 2,000 delegates as well as representatives from the industry. EuroSpine has one of the highest academic standards with 85 of the best submissions accepted for oral presentations and a further double accepted for short and poster presentation. The industry and the other scientific societies join the EuroSpine Society in hosting workshops, pre-meeting gatherings on specific topics and expert
lectures. The European Spine Journal continues to become a strong arm of the society with one of the highest impact factors of the speciality. EuroSpine‘s Spine Tango database will continue to offer it‘s possibilities to the members to collect data in order to become one of the strongest tools for health technology assessment in the future. Our goal is to fully own this tool in order to be totally independent from any third party and to provide the best quality of analysis of clinical data. EuroSpine members are requested to participate in the success of Spine Tango which is a unique international medical database. This year EuroSpine together with the EuroSpine Foundation, which is dedicated to help EuroSpine with its different tasks, developed the education program
The economic downturn with the inevitable pressure on health care budgets necessitates a strong and active society, dealing with the academic, economic and regulatory pressures on behalf of its members. We, as spine surgeons, have to develop new ideas and concepts to provide the best care to our patients, based on innovations and evidence based medicine (EBM). EBM is now the standart for innovation and Eurospine society want to support this concept. Spinal implants must follow the new trends for a sustainable environment. The 2012 EuroSpine meeting in Amsterdam is a tremendous challenge with the Spineweek organisation. This historical site is a centre of art and culture, the social aspect of the meeting is an assured success and keenly anticipated. Also to that end, if you are not already, I would encourage you to become a member of EuroSpine and participate in the tremendous development of our speciality in Europe. All active members are welcome to participate in committees.