Chairs:
Arnold Wong - The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China
Christy Lane - Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada
Markus Melloh - Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
David Anderson - The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Synopsis:
The International Taskforce on Diagnosis and Management of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis has completed focus groups at 10 ISSLS meetings since 2012, producing important published work on lumbar spinal stenosis [Lane et al., ISSLS Prize Winner: Consensus on the Clinical Diagnosis of Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: Results of an International Delphi Study. Spine 2016; Lane et al., Diagnostic tests in the clinical diagnosis of lumbar spinal stenosis: Consensus and Results of an International Delphi Study. ESJ 2020; Comer et al., Consensus on a standardised treatment pathway algorithm for lumbar spinal stenosis: an international Delphi study. BMC MSK Disorders 2022]
At ISSLS Atlanta in 2025 we plan to continue the important work by generating a clinical decision aid for lumbar spinal stenosis.
Chairs:
Paul Hodges - The University of Queensland, Australia
Dino Samartzis - Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chicago, USA
Jeff Lotz - University of California, San Francisco, USA
Gwen Sowa - University Of Pittsburgh, USA
Nam Vo - University of Pittsburgh, USA
Synopsis:
This focus group has met annually since the inception of the ISSLS focus group initiative and has provided a unique branding of ISSLS within this landscape worldwide. The purpose of the focus group is to progress the international agenda to identify and phenotypes of low back pain and advance precision spine care. The 2024 meeting culminated in endorsement of recommendations for development and application of predictive clinical biomarkers for low back pain care (submitted to Eur Spine Journal). The 2025 meeting will involve discussion and planning to address the recommendations.
Chairs:
Gianluca Vadalà - Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Italy
Luca Ambrosio - Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy
Daisuke Sakai - Tokai University School of Medicine, Japan
Jordy Schol - Tokai University School of Medicine, Japan
Synopsis:
Chronic discogenic low back pain (LBP) poses a significant global burden, yet effective therapeutic interventions directly targeting the underlying pathophysiological process remain elusive. After decades of thorough preclinical investigations, several regenerative medicine (RM) approaches, including cell-based treatments, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), and growth factors, have yielded promising outcomes in several preliminary clinical trials. However, inconsistent and suboptimal reporting standards in these studies hinder the assessment of the true efficacy and safety of such treatments. For example, trial reports often lack critical details on the source, preparation, concentration, and carriers of the injected product, as well as the number of treated levels, reasons behind loss to follow-up, etc. There is no consensus on which clinical outcomes, patient descriptions, or product characteristics should be consistently reported. Moreover, only a small fraction of registered RM trials ultimately publishes their results. The ISSLS, with its multidisciplinary and international membership, is the ideal stage to address this significant issue. By leveraging the ISSLS expertise of basic, translational, and clinical researchers, we aim to develop consensus-based reporting standards and set expectations for RM trials in discogenic LBP to improve data quality, study comparability, guide research and inform the clinical practice, with the ultimate aim of advancing the spinal health of LBP patients.
Chairs:
Luciana Macedo - McMaster University, Canada
Suzanne McIlroy - King’s College, United Kingdom
David Anderson - The University of Sydney, Australia
Fabrizio Russo - Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Italy
Synopsis:
Recent surveys conducted within Canada and in the UK have demonstrated large variations in practice when it comes to movement and activity restriction following microdiscectomy, laminectomy and fusion surgeries. Variation ranged from movement as tolerated to limitations to lifting, bending and twisting for 6 weeks or more. There is even greater uncertainty when patients can safely return to more complex activities such as running. This variability may stem from differences in surgical techniques, patient populations, and institutional practices. Yet variation in care can lead to suboptimal treatment in terms of patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, unclear advice and movement restrictions can increase patient anxiety and fear-avoidance behaviour, raising the risk of poor surgical outcomes.
Your networking and 2025 experience start here. Catch up with old friends and make new ones over drinks and canapés as we see what our trade partners have to offer.