Istanbul – One City, Two Continents
Istanbul is a two-part city, divided by the Bosphorus, one part lying in Europe and the other in Asia. The city has been an imperial capital for Roman, Byzantium and Ottoman Empires, all of which is reflected in the beauty of its many museums, churches, and great mosques. It is a metropolis proud of its rich history and unrivalled natural beauty.
With a population of over 10 million it is the biggest city in Turkey, with approximately one out of every seven citizens in Turkey living there. Although, not the capital, Istanbul remains the heartbeat of Turkey!
Beyond the beauty of the Bosphorus and the magnificence of the Byzantine and Ottoman heritage, Istanbul has much to offer. The classic meyhane (Turkish tavern) offers the potent raki, exquisite food with little tapas dishes of aubergine casserole, white cheese, spicy tomato and chili salad and much more. Including endless cigarette smoke and a good laugh.
This is the largest and most significant Spinal conference in the calendar for surgeons, health care workers and the implant industry. Each year it attracts more delegates and more exhibitors.
The Congress Venue
ICEC (Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center)
Harbiye 34267 Istanbul Turkey
Website :
www.icec.org
The Eurospine 2006 Congress will be held in ICEC (Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Centre), between 25-28 October 2006. The Centre is located right in the centre of the city, very close to many five or four star hotels. Many of the Hotels are already at capacity. The central area is near to the venue is Taksim.
Five Year Eurospine Congress Attendance
- 2005 Barcelona - 1700
- 2004 Porto SpineWeek - 2000
- 2004 SpineWeek was combined with ISSL’s and others, and is due to be repeated in Geneva 26th-31st May 2008
- 2003 Prague - 1354
- 2002 Nantes - 850
- 2001 Gothenburg - 750
The Meeting
The three and a half days consist of Scientific sessions, invited guest speakers poster sessions, workshops and the exhibition stands. There will of course be a social program with time to take in the sites and life of Istanbul.
Spine Society of Europe (SSE) has 415 members. The aims of the Spine Society of Europe (SSE) are to stimulate the exchange of knowledge and ideas in the field of research, prevention and treatment of spine diseases and related problems and to coordinate efforts undertaken in European countries for further development in this field
Further information and conference specific details are available on the website:
www.eurospine.org
Out of 825 submitted papers, only 83 could be chosen for oral, and 160 for poster presentation. A peer-reviewed selection has been performed, authors names were not known to the Program Committee:
Wednesday 25th October
The opening session is on cervical spine with a variety of papers from across Europe as well as Asia and America. Trauma features prominently with papers on whiplash and cervical spine clearance. The second session is on thoracolumbar spine with themes of bone grafting and fusion techniques and outcomes.
The lunchtime SSE workshop will be on the education of spine surgeons and the theme is one of discussing common goals between neurosurgery and orthopaedic surgery in achieving a single specialty.
The afternoon session starts with Scoliosis and combines basic science papers with clinical studies. After a short refreshment break the final session is mainly on thoraco-lumbar fractures ranging through non-operative outcomes and major reconstructions. It will be interesting to here what outcomes are used to measure success, the x-ray or the patient function.
The welcome reception will be much needed to rehydrate the participants and occurs within the conference centre immediately after the last session.
Thursday 26th October
Motion preservation techniques open the morning and there is one randomized controlled trial within that session. Disc replacement and flexible stabilisation will battle it out with fusion techniques. It is a pity that all the papers relate to surgical intervention but fortunately the informed participant is well aware of the need for intensive functional restoration prior to invasive procedures. If only we knew what failed conservative treatment really means.
Debates begin on the difference between the first mobile segment and the second mobile segment and whether treatment outcomes are equivalent.
Later in the morning is a further thoracolumbar session with a variety of interesting papers ranging through basic science on BMP to psychosocial stress factors in lumbar disc herniation.
The SSE workshop on Thursday is on injury at work and how to prevent it. In the afternoon Professor Boos is chairing a symposium on Health Care Technology assessment.
Friday 27th October
This session includes three randomized controlled trials mainly on low back interventions. After a debate on the assessment of results the next session is on the cervical spine. Topics cover the whole range of degenerative cervical disorders including radiculopathy and myelophty.
The lunchtime SSE workshop addresses the challenge of deformityin the elderly and the aging spine.
The afternoon is devoted to a number of synchronous special poster sessions. The 35 posters are divided into thoracolumbar spine, basic science, cervical spine, deformities and the growing spine and the ubiquitous motion preservation treatment.
The awards and honorary lectures follow and the afternoon closes with the SSE general assembly.
The Gala evening may have a detrimental effect on the attention span of some for the final scientific sessions. The Ciragan palace caters to your every desire! It was built by Sultan Abdulaziz, overlooking the Bosphoros.
Saturday 28th October
The morning opens with 10 high quality papers on the treatment of scoliosis from Europe and America ranging across posterior pedicle screw constructs to the correction of sagittal imbalance with subtraction osteotomy.
The final session before the announcement of the podium presentation prize is on the lumbar spine, with a number of papers on spinal stenosis. There is one randomised trial reporting the lack of utility of nasal calcitonin spray.
The local organizers Haluk and Murat have put a tremendous amount of effort and energy into making this meeting high quality. They have been assisted by the SSE organisation with the program committee completing a massive review process to ensure fairness and representation of all sub speciality interests in the spinal community.
