American Society of Spine Radiology Third Annual Symposium

The ASSR held a very successful and dynamic meeting in Marco Island, Florida, February 21–23, 2000. Entitled “Practical Spine Imaging and Imaging Guided Therapy,” this conference achieved its goal of blending lectures on diagnostic spine imaging with interventional spine demonstration workshops. Thirty-nine highly renowned neuroradiologists from the United States, Canada, and France contributed lectures during seven different focus sessions on spinal infection/inflammation, spinal trauma, posterior spinal elements as a source of low back pain and referred lower extremity pain, diagnostic spinal angiography, interventional spine, congenital spine anomalies and the pediatric spine, and peripheral neuropathy, myelopathy, and spinal tumors.

Faculty included representatives of all the ASNR's specialty organizations—the ASSR, ASITN, ASPNR, and ASHNR. Unique to this year's course was the addition of prominent clinical faculty who contributed neurosurgical and orthopedic surgical perspectives to the focus sessions on spinal infection/inflammation and on spinal trauma and who also enhanced the lively panel discussions and question-and-answer periods that followed each focus session. Also featured at this year's symposium were scientific poster presentations as well as the videotaping of all the spine educational materials with continuing medical education tapes to be made available by Educational Symposia, Inc.

Another new feature of this year's symposium, which was in fact the meeting's highlight, was instructor demonstration interventional spine workshops that included sessions on discography technique, facet injections and medial branch block injections, vertebroplasty technique and cement preparation for vertebroplasty, spinal biopsy, and percutaneous automated discectomy. Using C-arm fluoroscopic units and spine mannequins, these workshops were taught by faculty with special expertise in these interventional spine procedures. As illustrated by the photographs below, workshops were enjoyed by faculty and registrants alike and were met with an enthusiastic response.

Jointly sponsored by the ASSR and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, the symposium was designated by UCSD as a continuing medical education activity for 21.5 credit hours toward Category I credit the AMA Physicians Recognition Award. The Program Committee for this symposium included, M. Judith Donovan Post, M.D., FACR, Director; Wade H.M. Wong, D.O., Co-Director; John M. Mathis, M.D.; Blake A. Johnson, M.D.; Jeffrey Ross, M.D.; Victor M. Haughton, M.D.; F. Reed Murtagh, M.D.; J. Randy Jinkins, M.D., FACR; and Armando Ruiz, M.D.

Next year's ASSR Symposium will also be held in Marco Island, Florida, February 19–23, 2001 and will feature interventional spine procedures and didactic spine imaging lectures under the direction of Wade Wong, D.O. Information can be obtained from Ryals and Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 1925, Roswell, GA 30077–1925, Tel. 770–641–9773; Fax. 770-587-2322 Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST. Internet: http://www.ryalsmeet.com. webmaster{at}ryalsmeet.com.