Check It Out: Spine Camp 2015

Spine Camp is back.

Cleveland Spine Review: Hands-On 2015, presented by Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Spine Health, will be underway July 14-21, 2015, at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital.

Since the 1990s, Cleveland Spine Review has been a much anticipated event, drawing up to 150 neuro and orthopedic spine surgeons from across the globe. Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Spine Health assembled a premier faculty of experts from Cleveland Clinic and other top institutions around the world who will offer diverse perspectives.

Unique format

This year, Cleveland Spine Review returns with its unique format of interactive labs, case studies and one-on-one discussions on techniques and approaches that provide participants the opportunity to practice what they learn right away. Participants will study surgical techniques and strategies for a range of procedures, including occipitocervical, cervical, thoracic and lumbar fixation techniques. Complex surgical exposures in all regions of the spine are emphasized.

The intensive course emphasizes the fundamentals of spine surgery and the surgerical decision-making process. The course examines the multiple adjuncts to surgery, including soft tissue and bone retractors and distractors, minimally invasive surgical techniques, spinal implants and dissection tools. Nonoperative strategies also are emphasized.

What to expect

The Art Steffee Honored Guest Lecturer this year is Zoher Ghogawala, MD, FACS, the Charles A. Fager Chair of Neurosurgery in the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, Mass.

In addition to the full agenda of lectures and interactive labs, participants also are invited to attend add-on didactic lectures “Management of Spine Tumors” on July 14 and 15.

Participants can look forward to:

• Developing logical algorithms for solving complex problems
• Using physiological and surgical principles in spinal fusion and instrumentation
• Applying anatomic and physiologic principles to a variety of surgical approaches available to access all regions of the spine
• Learning the fundamental skills required to perform the most appropriate surgery for any given clinical pathology, and to recognize one’s own limitations in this regard
• Evaluating available instrumentation systems and appreciating the advantages of each, as well as the relative indications for their use

Nonsurgeon sessions

Nurses, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, physiatrists and other medical spine specialists also have a seat at the table. Special sessions for nonsurgeons will be held at noon on the first day of the Spine Camp to prepare for the upcoming content.

A variety of nonsurgical breakout sessions including a cadaver laboratory will offer unique, multifaceted learning experiences. There will be opportunities to learn side by side with surgeons in didactic sessions.

Click here for details and registration.

These activities have been approved for 53.75 physician AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.