World Spine 8, Portugal

The first day of the congress, April 15th, was dedicated to Pre-Meeting Symposia. The first session was at 11 AM “Sagittal Balance at Daily Practice”. This Session had the participation of Richard Fessler and Jean- Charles le Huec as moderators, and Chris Shaffrey, Wilco Peul, Tobias Pitzen, Douglas Orr, Richard Fessler and Jean-Charles le Huec as speakers. This first session, keeping in mind that was a Pre-Meeting day, had a lot of participants, around 120.

The afternoon was dedicated to Pre-Meeting Workshops sponsored by the Industry where Karl Storz had a two-hour symposium on “Multimodal visualization and access techniques in the minimally invasive management of lumbar degenerative spine surgery” with the following participants:

Paulo Pereira (Porto, Portugal, Sait Naderi (Istanbul, Turkey), Salman Sharif (Karachi, Pakistan), Joachim Oertel (Homburg, Germany).

In the evening there was a welcome reception at the Rectory of Porto University where the participants were received by the Rector of the University, Prof. Sebastião Feyo de Azevedo and the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Maria Amélia Ferreira.

Monday, April 16th, the day started at 08:00 AM with the Welcome and Presidential address. Prof. Paulo Pereira, chairman of the World Spine 8 and President of Neurosurgical Portuguese Society, gave some welcoming words and important information about the meeting and the City of Porto. Follow was Prof. Edward Benzel, founder of World Spinal Column Society, who gave a talk about the history and achievements of the WScS. To finalize the session, Prof. Sait Naderi gave the Presidential lecture on the "Current state in the diagnosis and treatment of cervical spondylotic myelopathy".

After the Welcome and Presidential address was time for the Main Topic Sessions. The Main Topic Sessions had the duration of 1 hour and a variety of topics were discussed. They always occurred at 3 different rooms. The first 3 Main Topics were about "Cervical Spine Deformity", "Advanced indications for spine endoscopy" and "Cervical trauma". This last one was organized in Partnership with MESS - Middle East Spine Society.

After the Coffee Break was time for the Plenary Session. Mehmet Zileli and Ziya Gokaslan moderated this
Plenary Session which approached the following topics:
- Biomechanics: Nuances and Clinical Applications (Ed Benzel)
- Risk Reduction Strategies in Major Spinal Surgery (Chris Shaffrey)
- Stem cell transplantation using oligodendrocyte progenitor cells as a treatment for spinal cord injury. Results of the SciStar clinical trial (Richard Fessler)
- Axis Ring fractures - a structured treatment Concept (Frank Kandziora)

After the Plenary Session started the Official Opening Ceremony chaired by Dr. Miguel Guimarães, the president of the Portuguese Medical Association and with the participation of Dr. Diogo Cruz, the Sub Director General of the Health, Prof. Rui Vaz, in representation of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, Prof. Sait Naderi, President of the World Spinal Column Society and Prof. Paulo Pereira, chairman of World Spine 8.

The lunch hour was always filled with Luncheon Seminar. On this day we had the "EUROSPINE Lunch Symposium on "Revision spine surgery". This session was moderated by Paulo Pereira and were approached the following topics:
- Revision surgery in adjacent segment disease: When and how? (Sait Naderi)
- Revision for cervical pseudarthrosis (Serdar Kahraman)
- Treatment of infected lumbar TDR (Frank Kandziora)

At 4:00 PM started the Main Topic Sessions. This 3 Main Topic were about "Updates in Spine Tumors", "Cirurgia na Coluna em Crescimento" in Partnership with SBC - Sociedade Brasileira de Coluna / Brazilian Spine Society and "Comparative Reappraisal of Endoscope Applications as 'Standard' Spinal Surgery" in Partnership with KOMISS - Korean Minimally invasive Spinal Surgery Society.

From 04:45 to 05:45 PM, in 4 different rooms, occurred the Free Papers Session and Keynote Lectures. In every Free Paper Session was a Keynote Lecture about a topic related to the Free Papers theme. On this afternoon Free Papers + Keynote Lectures were approached the following topics:
- Oral Communication 1 - Thoracolumbar Degenerative Pathology
KL1 - Prevention of nucleus reherniation using an annular closure device in lumbar microdiscectomy
(Marcos Baabor)
- Oral Communication 2 - Surgery of the Craniovertebral Junction
KL2 - Minimal or less invasive surgery in Chiari malformation (Kadir Kotil)
- Oral Communication 3 - Endoscopic thoracolumbar spine surgery
KL3 - Lumbar foraminal endoscopic decompression (Paulo de Carvalho)
- Flash Oral
KL12 - Minimally Invasive Motion Preservation Surgery: Anterior cervical Micro-foraminotomy
(Khairun Nabi Khan)

From 04:45 to 05:45 was also a Case discussions session in Partnership with SENEC - Sociedad Española de Neurocirugia / Spanish Society of Neurosurgery. Participated in this session Dr. Avelino Parajón, Dr Carlos Botella and Dr. Rosario González, all from SENEC.

The last session of the day was a Quiz “Are you smarter than Ed Benzel”. This interactive session, for young neurosurgeons who teamed up in teams of two, to answer a list of different questions was highly engaged. The winner was decided in the next day and had the chance to win a book of Prof. Edward Benzel signed by him and a picture.
The Faculty went directly to the city hall to be received by the mayor of the city who gave some words to the audience about the past, present and future of the city.

The day ended at “Restaurante Casa da Musica” for the Faculty Dinner.

Tuesday, April 17th
The third day of the congress started early in the morning, at 07:30 AM with 5 different Free Papers
Session and Keynote Lectures.
On this morning Free Papers + Keynote Lectures were approached the following topics:
- Oral Communication 4: Cervical Spine
KL4 - Laminoplasty Basket for degenerative cervical myelopathy (Yoshitaka Hirano)
- Oral Communication 5 - Deformity
KL5 - Complications of adult deformity surgery (Claudius Thomé)
- Oral Communication 6 - Trauma and Infection
KL6 - Complete Reduction of Cervical Dislocations: A Biomechanical Approach (Sujoy Sanyal)
- Flash Oral 02
KL13 - Complex upper cervical trauma (Igor de Castro)
- Flash Oral 03
KL14 - Microscopic tubular decompression for lumbar canal stenosis (Sandeep Vaishya)

At 09:00 AM started the Main Topic Sessions. This 3 Main Topic were about "Motion preservation technologies: hope or hype?", "Spine surgery around the world" and "Malignant tumors in the spine: tailoring the needs" in Partnership with GEER - Grupo de Estudio de Enfermedades del Raquis / Spanish Spine Society.

After the coffee break, at 10:30 AM, started the Plenary Session. This session was moderated by Abdelfattah Saoud and Salman Sharif and were approached the following topics: 

- Chordomas and Other Craniocervical Junction Tumors (Lilyana Angelov)
- Treatment for Chiari malformation and syringomyelia (Atul Goel)
- Adjacent segment pathologies: definition, pathophysiology and preventive measures (Richard Assaker)
- Reconstructive and regenerative approaches to the lumbar disc (Claudius Thomé)
- Factors affecting patient satisfaction following lumbar spine surgery (Michael Steinmetz)
- Challenges of geriatric spine surgery (Mehmet Zileli)

The lunch hour was filled with the Joimax Symposium on “Endoscopic Spinal Surgery: Experience and Evidence”. This session was moderated by, Prof. Alastair Gibson, MD, Edinburgh, Scotland, Dr. Hyeun Sung Kim, MD, Seoul, South Korea and Wolfgang Ries, CEO & Founder joimaxo Group. The following Topics were approached:

- Results of randomized controlled trial of transforaminal and endoscopic discectomy vs. Microdisectomy
Alastair Gibson, Edinburgh, Scotland
- Results of a study on percutaneous full endoscopic bilateral lumbar decompression of spinal stenosis through uniportal-contralateraI approach
Hyeun Sung Kim, Seoul, South Korea
- My own experience in endoscopic spine surgery and adoption over time 
Sandro Carletti, Terni, ltaly
- Advanced cases in endoscopic spine surgery - what is and will be possible?
Ralf Wagner, Frankfurt, Germany

From 02:00 PM to 03:20 PM was the Plenary Session, moderated by Sait Naderi and Ioannis Polythodorakis. The following topics were approached:
- Potential Complications of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and their Avoidance (Akira Dezawa)
- Outcome difference in MIS or Open TLIF (Salman Sharif)
- Tips and Tricks With Image Guidance (Gregory Trost)
- Minimally invasive surgery for Spinal intradural tumours (Sandeep Vaishya)

From 03:20 PM to 04:20 PM there were 3 more Main Topic Sessions. The topics approached were “Controversies in Spine surgery”, "The rise and fall of fantastic technologies - fantastic promises and the reason for failure" - Partnership with SPPCV - Sociedade Portuguesa de Patologia da Coluna Vertebral / Portuguese Spine Society and "Surgery of the Craniovertebral Junction" - Partnership with International Society of Craniovertebral Junction and Spine.

From 04:45 to 05:45 PM, in 4 different rooms, occurred the Free Papers Session and Keynote Lectures.
- Oral Communication 7 - Tumors and Intradural Pathology
KL7 - Aseptic Arachnoiditis and its endoscopic treatment (Jan-Peter Warnke)
- Oral Communication 8 - Miscellaneous
KL8 - Chiari: surgical management (Joe Sam Robinson Jr.)

- Flash Oral 04
KL15 - Unilateral approach for lumbar spinal stenosis (Moshiur Rahman)

- Flash Oral 05
KL16 - Comprehensive Treatment of Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures (Bambang Darwono)

From 04:45 to 05:45 PM there was also a Case discussions session with Abdelfattah Saoud, Douglas Orr, Gregory Trost and Michael Steinmetz.

The last session of the day was the Quiz “Are you smarter than Ed Benzel”. For this final round the contestants had to be quick to answer to the questions.

At the end of the scientific programme the participants went to the Congress Dinner where the new WScS president was announced, Dr. Ioannis Polythodorakis.

Wednesday, April 18th
The last day of the congress started early in the morning, at 07:30 AM with 5 different Free Papers Session
and Keynote Lectures.
On this morning Free Papers + Keynote Lectures were approached the following topics:

- Oral Communication 9: Trauma and Complications
KL9 - Complication in spine surgery: Experience in 10 Years (Rully Hanafi Dahlan)

- Oral Communication 10: Minimally invasive spine surgery
KL10 - Minimal invasive surgery and radiation exposure: how to minimise it (Richard Assaker)

- Oral Communication 11: Lumbar Degenerative Pathology
KL11 - Types of low back pain - is there an indication for fusion or not at all? (Sotiris Papastefanou)

- Flash Oral 06
KL17 - LASER diode: Recent advances in spinal surgeries - Percutaneous discectomy, sacroliliac and facet rhizotomy (Paulo de Carvalho)

- Flash Oral 07
Lumbosacropelvic fixation techniques (Abdelfattah Saoud)

At 09:00 AM started the Main Topic Sessions. This 3 Main Topic were about "New trends in spine trauma - will they ever become standard?", "MIS decompression techniques in lumbar spine" and "Surgery in the Thoracic Spine - the overlooked region".

After the coffee break, at 10:30 am, started the last plenary session of the programme. It was moderated by Douglas Orr and Sandeep Vaishya and the following topics were approached:
- Sacral tumors (Abdelfattah Saoud)
- Endoscopic Cervical Posterior Approach (Joachim Oertel)
- Microsurgical tubular decompression in cervical Spondylothic Myelopathy: Step by Step (Jose Antonio Soriano)
- Failed Back Surgery Syndrome - reasons and solutions (Nikolay Peev)
- Transforaminal Epiduroscopic Sinuvertebral Laser Ablation (TESLA) for Chronic IDD (Hyeun Sung Kim)
- Pseudarthrosis of the Spine: Management Strategy (Ioannis Polythodorakis)

The last session of the programme and of the congress was the closing ceremony & awards. Prof. Paulo Pereira gave a few words and special thanks. After that were revealed the winners of the Best Free Papers in each category.