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Welcome note

Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, 

I am very pleased to invite you to our 18th Annual Meeting of the German Spine Society again after the years 2012 and 2017 to Stuttgart from 29.11.–1.12.2023. 

The Annual Meeting under the motto "Back to the future" will deal with the important perspectives of spine treatment for clinicians and practitioners from neurosurgery, orthopaedics and trauma surgery but also for nursing staff and therapists. The important topics will be dealt with for all 3 areas of spinal therapy. The central focus in trauma surgery is the increasing incidence of osteoporotic fractures combined with an impulse lecture by Prof. Dr. Clemens Becker, who has been conducting research in this field for 30 years with important findings for our care structures and future needs. Another topic is minimally invasive surgery. An overview lecture by Prof. Dr. Michael Wang will also be presented on this topic with a large data basis from the USA, also with regard to an expected increasing outpatientisation. One session will focus more on spinal trauma of the narrow cervical spinal canal with a controversial pro/con session on surgical/conservative and ventral/dorsal. Traditionally, tumours/metastases, degenerative diseases, technical aspects such as navigation and robotics are dealt with in the sessions, as are free topics and the "best of" session, in which the 3 highest-rated and most original scientific papers are awarded prizes. I would like to shed light on professional opportunity management using the examples of a CEO from the business world, a clinic manager and a postdoctoral resident and discuss them coram publicum.

Topics such as safety and avoidance of complications in spinal surgery, including a legal discussion of the topic with a defense attorney including a worst case presentation will also be presented in a separate session.  

Our partner country is Austria. The Austrian Society for Spine Surgery with its President 2023 Dr. Sven Ziegler will be represented in the programme and is pleased to support us. 

Personally, I am also concerned about the integration of practising spinal therapists (conservative and operative), so that a separate session will also be dedicated to this professional group. 

The social evening will take place in the "Wagenhallen" near the centre of Stuttgart, which were built at the end of the 19th century and used for over 100 years for the maintenance and repair of railway locomotives and later of buses, and are now available for events after being renovated. This also concludes the theme of the Congress "Back to the Future". 

I would like to invite you to submit your esteemed scientific papers to the 18th German Spine Congress and to enrich the congress with your contribution as an ePoster or lecture. 

I look forward to seeing you again in Stuttgart! 

Yours, 

Markus Arand