AO Spine Knowledge Forum Degenerative
Goals
AO Spine KF Degenerative at the Global Spine Congress 2019 in Toronto, ON, Canada
AO Spine KF Degenerative is working on exciting and innovative projects to understand and treat degenerative spinal disorders. They have ongoing projects on classifying and refining best uses of biologics in spine and on clinical questions regarding the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine.
They are welcoming members that are interested in any of their ongoing projects.
Ongoing research projects
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* AO Spine DegenPRO
Prospective international multicenter registry about surgical treatment of degenerative spine conditions and the use of osteobiologics
Principal investigator:
S. Tim Yoon
Co-Principal investigator:
Jeffrey Wang
Goals:
The aim is to better understand degenerative spinal disorders and what kind of biologics are used in degenerative cases by assessing their effectiveness in terms of patient-reported outcomes, complications, and fusion rates.
Specific Topics:
AOSpine Surgical Treatment of Lumbar Spondy (STL-Spondy)
Investigators: Patrick Hsieh and Michael Virk
The goal is to investigate the difference in clinical outcomes of common surgical procedures for degenerative spondylolisthesis.AOSpine Interbody Materials for Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (IM-ACDF)
Investigators:
Hans Jörg Meisel and Amit Jain
The goal is to understand and compare structural allograft vs. PEEK-based interbody devices in the anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) procedure with respect to fusion rates, rates of secondary surgery, and patient-reported outcomes.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02802033
Documents:
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AO Spine Guideline for Using Osteobiologics in Spinal Degeneration Cases (AO-GO)
Principal investigator:
Hans Jörg Meisel
Co-Principal investigators:
Jeffrey Wang, Zorica Buser
Goals:
Aims to formulate precisely defined, clinically relevant and internationally applicable guidelines ensuring evidence-based, safe, and effective use of osteobiologics, considering regional preferences and cost-effectiveness. The study follows GRADE approach, and the current research focus is on anterior cervical discectomy and fusion.
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AO Spine Bone Osteobiologics and Evidence Classification (BOnE Classification)
Principal investigator:
Tim Yoon
Co-Principal investigators:
Zorica Buser
Goals:
Aims to develop a framework to evaluate the level of evidence supporting the use of bone grafts. It will help surgeons to understand the quality of the information that is provided for each product used
Documents:
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AO Spine Rare Lumbar Complications
Incidence of Post-operative Rare Complications after Lumbar Spine Surgery: An AO Spine Multicenter retrospective study
Principal investigator:
Jeffrey Wang
Co-Principal investigators:
Zorica Buser, Christopher Martin
Goals:
The purpose of this retrospective multicenter case series is to identify the incidence of specific rare lumbar spine complications, associated risk factors, as well as outcomes and treatments of those complications. The findings will help with treatment planning and patient counseling. In addition, this study will be used as a research training platform for young surgeons and fellows.
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Do prophylactic antibiotics reach the operative site adequately?
A quantitative analysis of serum and wound concentrations of systemic and local prophylactic antibiotics in spine surgery
Principal investigator:
Arun Kumar Viswanadha
Co-Principal investigator:
Naresh Babu J
Goals:
Aims to analyze serum and wound concentrations of antibiotics administered by two different routes i.e. systemic and intra wound application
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Macrophage therapy for intervertebral disc herniation (McDISC)
Principal investigator:
Carla Cunha
Co-Principal investigator:
Susana G. Santos, Mário A. Barbosa, Paulo Pereira
Goals:
Aims to demonstrate and define the role of macrophages in hernia regression
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Decay Variance
A Novel MRI Tool for Quantifying Intervertebral Disc Degeneration in Low Back Pain
Principal investigator:
Kyle Sheldrick
Co-Principal investigators:
Ashish Diwan, Uphar Chamoli
Goals:
Aims to establish the normal values for human intervertebral discs using the Decay Variance technique and determine whether these values differ in people suffering chronic low back pain
Completed research projects
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* Biologics Health Technology Assessment
Health technology assessment (HTA) on biologics in spine surgery
Principal investigator:
All steering committee members
Goals:
Aimed to perform three systematic reviews to assess the efficacy and safety of:
- ICBG compared with other types of autograft;
- allograft compared with all other types of graft;
- DBM compared with autograft, allograft or other bone graft substitutes in cervical and thoracolumbar fusion;
- and the use of stem cells in spine degenerative conditions.
Documents:
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Biologics Retrospective
Insurance database
Principal investigator:
Jeffrey Wang
Goals:
Aimed to mine large databases of HIPAA-compliant orthopedic and non-orthopedic records that contain charging, reimbursement, cost, diagnosis, procedure, hospital, patient demographic, and co-morbidity data, and other related data that enables us to evaluate the costs and care patterns for health care services: evaluation of the trends, complications, and costs associated with the use of biologics in spine surgery
Documents:
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ACDF Survey
Survey on the current use of structural and non-structural graft materials among spine surgeons worldwide
Principal investigator:
S. Tim Yoon
Goals:
Aim was to learn what kind of graft materials spine surgeons around the world use generally for their ACDF procedures
Documents:
KF Degenerative Steering Committee
S. Tim Yoon
Chairperson
Emory University
Atlanta, USA
Jeffrey C. Wang
USC Spine Center
Los Angeles, USA
Hans Jörg Meisel
BG-Clinic Bergmannstrost
Halle, Germany
Ashish Diwan
University of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
Amit Jain
Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore, USA
KF Degenerative Associate Members
Viswanadha Arun Kumar, Mallika Spine Centre, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India
Giovanni Barbanti-Brodano, Istituti Ortopedici Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy
Zorica Buser, USC Spine Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Juan P. Cabrera, Hospital Clínico Regional de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
Samuel Cho, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
Stipe Ćorluka, University Hospital Centre Sestre Milosrdnice, Zagreb, Croatia
Carla Cunha, i3S - Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Porto, Portugal
Andreas Demetriades, Royal infirmary of Edinburgh Scotland, Edinburgh, UK
Waeel Hamouda, Cairo University Medical school & Teaching hospitals, Cairo, Egypt
Kazuhiro Hasegawa, Niigata Spine Surgery Center, Niigata, Japan
Patrick Hsieh, USC Spine Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Ho-Joong Kim, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
Hyeun Sung Kim, Nanoori Hospital Gangnam, Gangnam, South Korea
Ronald Lehman, New York Presbyterian Och Spine Hospital, New York, NY, USA
Christopher Martin, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Steven Presciutti, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA
Bangping Qian, Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
Kyle Sheldrick, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Veranis Sotirios, General Air Force and Reserve Hospital, Athens, Greece
Gianluca Vadala, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Pieter-Paul Vergroesen, UMC Utrecht, the Netherlands
Michael Virk, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA
Knowledge Forum Manager
“The AO Spine Knowledge Forum Degenerative is entering an expansion phase. We welcome members to apply for associate membership to join our studies and research topics.”
S. Tim Yoon, Chairperson KF Degenerative, Research Commission member