COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Applications for membership in the Spine Society of Europe have doubled in the past year and abstract submissions for the 2015 EuroSpine Annual Meeting were at an all-time high when the meeting opened, according to EuroSpine president Haluk R. Berk, MD, and Thomas R. Blattert, MD, co-host of the meeting.
Berk and Blattert gave an update on the Spine Society of Europe and this year’s meeting during a press conference, here.
Haluk R. Berk
Blattert, of Schwarzach, Germany, said for this year’s meeting more than 1,000 abstracts were submitted as paper or poster presentations, which is a more than 70% increase from how many were submitted for the 2014 annual meeting. There is also a new paper category this year — New techniques, imaging, patient safety, infection, complications — and Blattert attributed the increase in abstracts submitted, in part, to that change.
More than 200 submitted abstracts were for that new category alone, he said.
In addition, EuroSpine introduced a new award for the 2015 meeting called the “Best of Outside-Europe Presentation Award.”
The category was a popular one for submissions, according to Blattert.
Another change Blattert discussed is there is the meeting delegates are younger than in past years. The number of members who are 35-years old and younger increased by 4%, he said.
As of the start of the meeting, 1,685 attendees were registered and an additional 190 attendees were registered by Wednesday morning, September 2, according to Berk. – by Robert Linnehan
Reference: Blattert TR, Berk HR. Press Conference. Presented at: EuroSpine Annual Meeting; Sept. 2-4, 2015; Copenhagen, Denmark.
Disclosures: Berk reports he is president of EuroSpine, the Spine Society of Europe. Blattert reports he receives other financial reports from AOSpine and is a consultant for Aesculap, Medtronic and Spontech.