2018WCMISST (World Congress of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery & Techniques) is the sixth conference since Dr.Sang Ho Lee first held it in Hawaii in 2008. It was in full bloom in Chongqing, China from June 7th to 20th, 2018!

World Congress of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery & Techniques is held every two years and nearly 1,000 doctors participate. It is recognized as one of the most important conferences for minimally invasive spine surgery.

At 8 am on June 2, 2016, at the ICC Convention Center in Jeju Island, South Korea, the organizing committee held a WCMISST Board Meeting to discuss the host country of WCMISST2018.

At that time, four countries took part in the competition. A total of 12 people were entitled to participate in the voting. 10 of them voted for China. We successfully won the qualification for the sixth WCMISST in China.

This indicates that, following China’s successful hosting of the PASMISS Meeting in 2012 and the 34th International Society for Minimal Intervention in Spinal Surgery in 2016, China will host another world minimally invasive spine surgery event again, which will also be a great event which symbolizes that China's minimally invasive spine surgery goes global!

Congress Impression 1

Opening Ceremony With aesthetic Innovation And Extraordinary Meaning

At the opening ceremony, a beautiful dance performance brought a visual shock to the participating doctors. At the same time, it also encouraged everyone to participate in academic discussions in high spirits.

Professor Jian Wang presided over the opening ceremony

At the opening speech, Professor Yue Zhou of Xinqiao Hospital of Army Medical University, President of the 6th WCMISST, said that representatives from 26 countries attended the conference. More than 70 representatives from abroad attended the conference, among which more than 40 famous minimally invasive spine surgery experts gave different forms of exchange speeches; more than 1,000 domestic minimally invasive spine surgeons from different levels came to study, among which more than 150 Chinese spine surgeons conducted academic exchanges.

Professor Yue Zhou spoke at the opening ceremony

At the opening ceremony, 14 Chinese and foreign experts and professors including Yan Wang, Shuxun Hou, Gun Choi, Yue Zhou, Guohua Lu, Jeffrey C. Wang, Anthony T. Yeung, Michael Mayer, Richard G. Fessler, Thomas Blattert, Shaoke Xu, Akira Dezawa, Jinsung Luke Kim and Huilin Yang jointly launched the button of this conference.

Launching Conference Button

Congress Impression 2

Speech Topics Follow Hot Points

Expert Speech

The highlight of this thematic academic exchange was the all-day master forum held by the top-level minimally invasive spine surgery experts from around the world. They brought 46 lectures for the participants. Prof. Michael Mayer was the first one who spoke on this gorgeous stage.

Prof. Michael Mayer gave a report

Prof. Anthony T.Yeung gave a report

Prof. Thomas R.Blattert gave a report

Prof. Jeffrey C .Wang gave a report

In the lecture part, Prof. Anthony T. Yeung, a world-renowned spine endoscopy minimally invasive surgery master and inventor of YESS technique, first applied coaxial spine endoscopy to lumbar disc nucleus pulposus tissue removal, and proposed the concept of “Inside-Out” creatively.

President of NASS, Professor Jeffrey C. Wang, Director of the Center for Spine Surgery at the University of Southern California (USC) introduced the rapid development of new technologies and concepts in the field of spine surgery, and has provided personal opinions in terms of "Can new technologies truly solve past clinical problems" "Are business interests driving the development of new technologies" and  "Does learning ways to new techniques conform to the standard?" .

At the conference, Professor Yong Hai reported the preliminary clinical results of percutaneous endoscopic lumbar minimally invasive interbody fusion decompression and fixation. The results showed that postoperative incision pain and lumbar spine function scores were significantly better than traditional TLIF surgery, and had a good interbody fusion effect, reflecting the characteristics of minimally invasive surgery and rapid recovery.

Expert Lectures were attractive

At the meeting, the participating experts discussed at the conference lively. The young and middle-aged doctors attending the conference were not willing to serve only as listeners. They actively asked the speaker experts in fluent English. The profound thinking and debate of the experts expanded the scientific thinking of the participants. In order to facilitate understanding and communication, simultaneous interpretation was conducted throughout the conference.

Congress Impression 3

Three Major Sessions Bring Wonderful Content

The academic exchange on June 10 was conducted in three sessions: spine endoscopy, digital navigation technology and minimally invasive fusion technology.

In the Spinal Endoscopic Technology Session, 30 spine minimally invasive specialists from around the world shared their experience in application of spine minimally invasive techniques in spine degeneration. The first speaker was Prof. Michael Mayer, OLIF technique’s inventor. The topic of the lecture was the development of minimally invasive spine surgery for 35 years. He also gave a presentation on this topic in the minimally invasive fusion session. Prof. Yue Zhou introduced the evaluation. In 1997, the OLIF technique was invented by Prof. Mayer, which plays an important role in the worldwide development promotion of spine surgery.

The experts reviewed the history of minimally invasive development and compared the use of different endoscopic techniques in minimally invasive spine surgery; shared the clinical practice of spinal endoscopic techniques in different types of disc herniation; discussed the clinical effect of endoscopic techniques for the treatment of spinal stenosis. This conference provides a reference for the standardization and healthy development of spinal endoscopic techniques.

Due to the deep surgery site of spinal surgery, complex structure, and position which is adjacent to important nerve tissue, the safety and accuracy of spinal surgery has always been an important indicator of clinical evaluation. In recent years, with the rise of the concept of "precision medical treatment" and the fact that digital navigation technology can reduce radiation, orientate accurately, shorten operation time, and reduce surgical trauma, digital navigation technology for spine surgery keeps growing and maturing, and is becoming more and more accurate for spinal surgery. It provides a further reliable guarantee for the development of digitization, minimally invasive and development in precision direction.

The conference participants conducted in-depth discussions on various types of digital navigation technologies in the field of spinal surgery, participants’ understanding of the safety and practicality of various navigation technologies were improved, and their horizons were broadened, which lays a foundation for  the further development direction of professional precision techniques for spinal surgery.

Fusion technology is one of the hot topics in the field of minimally invasive spine surgery. In recent years, it is showing a vigorous development trend. Among them, lumbar spine OLIF, XLIF, ALIF, CLIF, MIS-TLIF, Zista, percutaneous pedicle screw, CBT screw technique, Endo-LIF, PE-TLIF and other techniques of surgical techniques, imaging changes, surgical results, corresponding complications, medium and long-term follow-up and other content will always be focuses of attention.

Congress Impression 4

Two Groups Start Today

The Minimally Invasive Fusion Group and the Digital Navigation Group of the Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Committee, Chinese Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons were formally established in Chongqing. Prof. Limin Rong, President of The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University, took the chair of Minimally Invasive Fusion Group, and Prof. Xiaojian Ye from Shanghai Changzheng Hospital serves as head of Digital Navigation Group.

Prior to this, the Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Committee has set up the Spinal Endoscopy Group and the Microscopy Group. Professor Changqing Li of the Xinqiao Hospital of Army Medical University and Professor Yu Liang of the Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine are heads of the these groups respectively. At this point, the Chinese Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons has  four major groups.

Prof. Yue Zhou pointed out that with the advancement of China’s reform and opening up and the continuous expansion of international academic exchanges, China’s minimally invasive spine surgery fellows will have more opportunities to learn from international experiences and demonstrate their own achievements. He reminded the younger generation to grasp the opportunity firmly for the transformation of surgical techniques from traditional to minimally invasive, digital, and intelligent, learn new ideas and new technologies constantly, open up independent innovation roads to bring advanced and high-tech technologies with independent intellectual property rights to clinic, to affect and lead the development of minimally invasive spine surgery in the world.

Congratulations to the successful end of the 6th World Congress of Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery & Techniques, 9th Asian Congress of MISS, 2018 Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Annual Meeting of CAOS, CMDA. See you again on September 7th, Guangzhou at The 1st Sino-Euro International Orthopedics Summit 2018. We look forward to your arrival.