The SRS conference in Montreal: a brief report

In September, the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) held its 54th annual conference in Montreal, and Isico was there! The SRS annual conference is one of the most important international meetings devoted to scoliosis, and every year over 1700 research studies are submitted to the organisers for consideration. Despite this level of “competition”, one of the papers presented by Isico was, for the fourth year running, selected as the topic of an oral presentation, which was given by Prof. Stefano Negrini.

“Our research was very well received; in fact, interest in conservative treatments is growing all the time among surgeons” Prof. Negrini  remarked. “What our study showed was that degrees of curvature can be accurately predicted by combining clinical measurements of the hump: this not only reduces the number of X-rays patients have to undergo, but also the number of affected individuals who  go undiagnosed”.

During the conference, there was also discussion of mini-invasive surgical techniques. However, since there is, as yet, no short- or long-term evidence of the efficacy of these methods, their use is currently restricted to highly selected cases.

“This scientific society is ready to invest in research into the use of braces in children and adults” added Prof. Negrini. “The non-operative management committee suggested holding a course in Athens during IMAST, which is the second annual international congress organised by SRS, where Dr Sabrina Donzelli (an Isico physiatrist) and I will both be taking part as lecturers”.
Finally, this year’s SRS annual conference also saw Prof. Alberto Ponte, one of the world’s top ten scoliosis experts, presented with a Lifetime Award for his achievements, and this recognition was a source of great pride for us Italians! It was Prof. Ponte, of course, who developed an important technique for the surgical treatment of kyphosis (the Ponte osteotomy), which continues to be used in scoliosis surgery to preserve or restore the sagittal balance of the surgically treated spine.