AO Spine Knowledge Forum Deformity

Creating a common language and framework for researchers and clinicians

Goals

KF Deformity AO Spine KF Deformity at the Global Spine Congress 2024

AO Spine KF Deformity aims to improve the care for patients with a spinal deformity by generating and disseminating meaningful and impactful clinical evidence.

They do this by engaging leading clinicians, researchers, and spine centers from around the world to perform evidence-based research and by disseminating the research findings and newfound knowledge through publications and presentations.

Ongoing research projects

  • AO Spine Knowledge Forum Deformity Focus Issue

    Principal investigator:

    Stephen Lewis

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Lawrence Lenke

    Goals:

    Aims to provide a thorough review of the current status of adult spinal deformity surgery and highlight areas of controversy. The issue will provide guidance through the current literature and help identify future directions to help answer some of the difficulties encountered in treating this complex and highly variable disorder.

  • */** Spinal Deformity Intraoperative Monitoring (SDIM)

    Principal investigator:

    Stephen Lewis

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Lawrence Lenke, Nasir Quraishi

    Goals:

    Aims to determine the incidence of intraoperative neuromonitoring alerts in complex, high-risk, spinal deformity surgeries and identify the events that lead to such alerts

    Remark:

    This project was awarded with a Standard Research Grant (2018) from the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS).

    Documents:

    Publication summary

    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03880292

  • * Prospective Evaluation of Elderly Deformity Surgery (PEEDS): five-year extension

    A prospective observational, multicenter study

    Principal investigator:

    Stephen Lewis

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Sigurd Berven

    Goals:

    Aims to show an improvement in SRS-22 total score between baseline and 24 months and five years after surgery in patients at age 60 or older treated with major spinal reconstruction (spinal fusion of at least five levels) for adult spinal deformity

    Documents:

    Publication summary

    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02035280

  • Peri-Operative Management (POMa) spine survey

    AO Perioperative Management (POMa) of Adult Deformity or Degenerative Spine – Cooperation of Knowledge Forum Deformity and Knowledge Forum Degenerative

    Principal investigator:

    Dr. Stephen J. Lewis, MD

    Co-Principal investigator:

    Dr. So Kato, MD

    Goal:

    To understand the current trends in peri-operative ASD surgery management based on an international survey

  • SMART - Durability of supplementary rod constructs—SuppleMentAry Rod Technique (SMART)—for long-segment posterior instrumented spinal fusion procedures: A multicenter retrospective comparative study with dual-rod constructs

    Principal investigator:

    Dr. Justin S. Smith, MD, PhD

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Dr. Stephen J. Lewis, MD
    Dr. Michael P. Kelly, MD

    Goal:

    To compare rod fracture rates after index surgery between patients having received supplementary rod constructs and patients having received dual-rod constructs

Completed research projects

  • */** Evaluation of neurologic complications associated with surgical correction of adult spinal deformity (Scoli-RISK 1)

    A prospective, observational, multi-center study

    Principal investigator:

    Lawrence Lenke

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Michael Fehlings

    Goals:

    Aim was to establish the risk of neurologic deficit related to surgical correction of adult spinal deformity and to identify characteristics associated with increased risk of neurologic complications related to the surgery

    Remark:

    This project received co-funding from the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) and Norton Healthcare

    Documents:

    Publication summary

    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01305343

  • FLEXIbility in Scoliosis (FLEXIS)

    Comparison of dynamic radiographs in determining fusion level in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis correction

    Principal investigator:

    Kenny Kwan

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Kenneth Cheung, Ahmet Alanay

    Goals:

    Aims to identify the dynamic radiograph(s) that can most accurately predict the curve behavior after surgical correction in patients diagnosed with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

    Documents:

    Publication summary

    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03296228

  • Identification of a core outcome set for spinal deformity surgery (COSSCO)

    Core Outcome Set for SCOliosis (COSSCO)

    Principal investigator:

    Marinus de Kleuver

    Co-Principal investigators:

    David Polly

    Goals:

    Aim was to develop a core outcome set specific to spinal deformity that represents the minimum that should be measured and reported in all outcome registries of a specific condition

    Documents:

    Publication summary

  • An international consensus on the appropriate treatment for adults with spinal deformity (ASD Consensus)

    Principal investigator:

    Sigurd Berven

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Marinus de Kleuver

    Goals:

    Aim was to identify goals of care and management strategies that are appropriate for adult spinal deformity patients based upon worldwide expert opinion

    Documents:

    Publication summary

  • An international consensus on the surgical treatment standards for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS Consensus)

    Principal investigator:

    Marinus de Kleuver

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Manabu Ito

    Goals:

    Aim was to investigate what constitutes optimal operative care for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients between 12 and 20 years of age with curves ranging from 40 to 90 degrees Cobb angle

    Documents:

    Publication summary

  • AO Spine Comprehensive Classification of Adult Spinal Deformity (AOASD)

    Principal investigator:

    J Naresh-Babu

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Manabu Ito, Jong-Beom Park, Kenny Kwan

    Goals:

    Aims to develop comprehensive classification that separates patients into clinically different subgroups that require different treatment strategies

    Documents:

    AO Spine ASD Patient Profile

  • * Evaluation of neurologic complications associated with surgical correction of adult spinal deformity (Scoli-RISK 1): five-year extension

    A prospective, observational, multi-center study

    Principal investigator:

    Lawrence Lenke

    Co-Principal investigators:

    Michael Fehlings

    Goals:

    Aims to establish the long-term risk of neurologic deficit related to the surgical correction of adult spinal deformity and to identify characteristics associated with an increased risk of neurologic complications related to surgery at five-year postoperative

    ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02949245

* This AO Spine-sponsored study is executed with support from AO Clinical Evidence (AO CO). 

** Award-winning project

KF Deformity Steering Committee

Stephen Lewis
Chairperson
Toronto Western Hospital
Toronto, Canada

Michael Kelly
Co-chair elect
UCSD and Rady Children’s Hospital
San Diego, CA, USA

Justin Smith
Co-chair elect
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, USA

Yukihiro Matsuyama
Hamamatsu University School of Medicine
Hamamatsu, Japan

Caglar Yilgor
Acibadem University Maslak Hospital
Istanbul, Turkey

Kenny Kwan
University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong

Ferran Pellise Urquiza
Hospital Vall d'Hebron / Barcelona Spine Institute Hospital Quiron
Barcelona, Spain

So Kato

So Kato
The University of Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan

Ch Ames

Christopher Ames
University of California San Francisco,
San Francisco, CA, USA

E Klineberg

Eric Klineberg
UT Health Houston
Houston, TX, USA

KF Advisory Board

Kenneth Cheung
The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, China

David Polly
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, USA

Yong Qiu
Nanjing University
Nanjing, China

Christopher Shaffrey
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, USA

Lawrence Lenke
Columbia University New York,
New York, USA

Sigurd Berven
University of California San Francisco
San Francisco, USA

Ahmet Alanay
Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar
University School of Medicine
Istanbul, Turkey

KF Deformity Associate Members

Saumyajit Basu, Kothari Medical Center and Park Clinic, Kolkata, India
Anastasios Charalampidis, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Sweden
André Luis Fernandes Andújar, Hospital Infantil Joana de Gusmão, Florianópolis, Brazil
Munish Gupta, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
Christopher Nielsen, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Canada 
Zeeshan Sardar, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA 
Miranda van Hooff, Radboud University Medical Center/Sint Maartenskliniek, Nijmegen, Netherlands 
Alekos Theologis, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA 
Anna Rienmueller, Medizinische Universität Wien, Wien Austria 
Brett Rocos, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, USA
Colby Oitment, McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario, Canada
Swamy Ganesh, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Yoshida Go, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
Shen Jianxiong, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China
John Street, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital, Canada
Juan Uribe, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix AZ, USA
Kristen Jones, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Thorsten Jentzsch, Balgrist Universitätsklinik, Zürich, Switzerland
Zhu Zezhang, Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing, China
Jeffrey Hills, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, USA
Juan Sardi, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Texas, USA
Elias Elias, University of Texas, Texas, USA
Jonathan Sembrano, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minnesota MN, USA
Aaron J. Buckland, Melbourne Orthopaedic Group Australia, Melbourne Australia
Pedro Berjano, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
Darryl Lau,  NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA
Brian Neuman, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
Ahmed Abdelgawaad, Helios Hospitals Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany
Nelson Astur, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein – Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Fred Nicholls, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
Hiroki Ushirozako Hamamatsu, University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
Kota Watanabe, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
Krishna Kumar, VPS Lakeshore Hospital, Kochi, India
Robert Ravinsky, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
Serena Hu, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Yashar Javidan, University of California, Davis Health, Davis, CA, USA

Knowledge Forum Manager

Marta Morawska

Project Manager

Other Knowledge Forums

AO Spine KF Tumor

AO Spine KF Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)

AO Spine KF Degenerative

AO Spine KF Trauma and Infection

“There is a myriad of outcome studies and instruments out there; everybody uses different tools to measure their quality of care. We help bring more rationale to the options that are available.”

Marinus de Kleuver, Past Chairperson KF Deformity