ICSJS 2016

ICSJS 2016 Hamburg/Germany

"Outside this room there's a different world!"
Prof. B. Meyer, MD

"And there's a reason why

the majority of doctors do not consider sacroiliac joint fusion as a standard of care."
Prof. B. Meyer, MD, Professor, Direkcor Neurosurgical Clinic, Techn. University,Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich/Germany

And the reason is the lack of unbiiased RCTs. The question to Dr. Jeff Donner (Colorado, USA) and Prof. Meyer (Munich, Germany) whether or not SIJ fusion surgery should be a ‘must have’ tool in the arsenal of a spine surgeon led to an intensive discussion - and we agreed that still there is no gold standard of SIJ surgical treatment.

The 2nd International Conference on Sacroiliac Joint Surgery (ICSJS) 2016 in Hamburg is over and we are really impressed by the high standard of the 23 speakers and the enthusiasm of the participants. We are very proud that the planned contingent of 100 participants was reached. This year we had participants from 22 nations and 11 of the major SIJ device suppliers were able to share and discuss the status quo and outlooks, case numbers, clinical results, diagnosis and treatment of the SIJ.

Thanks to the 23 speakers who contribute their lectures and expertise without demanding a speaker’s fee – this is outstanding in our times of health care commercialization priorities. In spite of the fact, that we did not receive public fundings to cover the travel expenses of our speakers, we managed a financial break even.

New insights in anatomy, biomechanics, in SIJ injection and fusion techniques as well as conservative clinical workup of SIJ patients were revealed. Although the meeting had been extended to almost two complete conference days, an additional day for discussions would still have kept the participants in the room. Also a cadaver lab was asked for.

Watch the pro/con lectures by E. Jeffrey Donner, MD and Prof. Bernhard Meyer, MD

Pro/Con Intruducing Lectures

What the participants say

Dr. Carlton Reckling (SI-Bone), Dr. Jeff Donner (SI-Technology) and Dr. John Stark (Ilionmedical) represented three different types of SIJ fusion technology, each of which are at a different state of development. Reckling made an impressive statement on the clinical investigation his company has started, asking the editors of major magazines to apply the same standards to their mode of accepting a paper as they require from the industry for unbiased studies.

"Thank you so much for the invitation to speak at the ICSJS meeting. It was a wonderful experience and I learned a great deal which I plan on taking back with me to the United States. It seems to me that the meeting was an undeniable success."

Peter G. Whang, MD, FACS, Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation Yale University School of Medicine

“Thank you for your good organization of ICSJS 2016. I believe that your passion can develop the SIJ treatment in the world. I would like to contribute to improve the way of diagnosis for SIJ pain with original studies next year, too. As much as I can, I am going to help you to continue your conference in the future.”

Daisuke Kurosawa, MD, Department of Orthopedic surgery, LBP and SIJ center, JCHO Sendai hospital, Sendai, Japan

“As an enthused participant I would like to give you a feedback on your meeting in Hamburg: The quality of lectures and discussions had been truly outstanding, it was worth the long travel. Being a manual physician as well as interventional pain therapist I really drew important benefit. Unfortunately until now only few collegues are considering this topic. I am very open to cooperate!”

Dr. Markus Schneider, Orthopäde/Unfallchirurg, Bamberg/Germany

“I’m sorry that due to time lack the discussion was not as lively as last year. Last year and the years before on smaller meetings we were all in doubt, now we can see that most of us are actively dealing with SIJ treatment and still we are careful to find out, who is the right patient. Therefor we need this meeting and this institution for further investigation.”

Dr. Robert Boelen, Pain Therapist, Rijswijk/The Netherlands