Leon L. Wiltse ‘Best Paper’ Award Goes to Peter Whang, M.D., FACS

Peter Whang, M.D., FACS is this year’s winner of the Leon L. Wiltse Award for Best Overall Paper which was presented at the 2015 International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS) meeting in San Diego. The paper was chosen from a field of 450 and the award was sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Hansen Yuan.

Leon Wiltse, for whom this award is named, was one of the great teachers, mentors and surgeons in spine surgery. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he served as a clinical professor of orthopedics at University of Louisiana Medical School, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, University of Texas’ Southwestern Medical School and the University of California, Irvine.

He led groundbreaking research including the first use of methyl methacrylate-a surgical plastic used to bond prostheses into joints. Dr. Wiltse also studied, described and classified spondylolistheses, a painful misalignment of the vertebrae of the lower back.

With Robert Howland in 1985, he invented and developed the Wiltse Spine Fixation System. Just as important as his discoveries and full-time practice, was the Wiltse Fellowship in Medicine and Surgery of the Spine. From 1971 until 1993, Dr. Wiltse mentored more than 40 young spine surgeons.

A prolific writer, Dr. Wiltse authored over 150 publications on the various aspects of orthopedics and traveled extensively to lecture internationally.

This year’s Wiltse award winning paper presented the results of a study of the iFuse Implant System, a minimally invasive surgical (MIS) device indicated for fusion for certain disorders of the sacroiliac (SI) joint. Peter Whang, M.D., principal investigator of the trial, presented the paper titled, Minimally Invasive SI Joint Fusion Using Triangular Implants vs. Non-surgical Management of Chronic SI Joint Dysfunction: Results of a Prospective Multicenter Randomized Trial.

iFuse Implant System is a minimally invasive surgical option that uses titanium implants coated with a porous, titanium plasma spray that acts as an interference surface, designed to help decrease implant motion, provide immediate fixation and allow for biological fixation to support long term fusion.

The trial of the system enrolled 148 patients. Results showed that the iFuse Implant System provided superior outcomes for SI joint pain, disability and quality of life vs. non-surgical management in patients with SI joint dysfunction due to degenerative sacroiliitis or SI joint disruptions.

The presentation included initial results from the 12-month follow-up. According to the report, of the 102 subjects randomized to iFuse, 12-month follow-up showed continued improvement in pain and disability scores. Of the 44 subjects randomized to NSM (non-surgical management) and still participating in the study, 34 crossed over to receive iFuse and 10 did not.

All 34 crossover subjects underwent SI joint fusion with the iFuse Implant System. Initial results of the 12-month follow-up in this group showed marked improvements in pain and disability similar to those initially randomized to iFuse. Of the 10 subjects who did not crossover after 6 months, 12-month follow-up showed no further improvement in pain or disability.

“It is truly a great honor to receive the Leon L. Wiltse award for best overall paper at this year’s ISASS meeting and I would just like to congratulate and thank the other 18 clinical site investigators who participated in the trial as well the dozens of clinical support staff who’ve contributed to the quality and success of this study, ” said Whang, “I am impressed with the study’s preliminary 12-month results and, although follow-up is continuing, there is now very strong evidence that patients in the non-surgical group who crossed over to surgery after 6 months of continued non-surgical treatment had postoperative improvements in pain and disability almost as large as those initially assigned to SI joint fusion. Those who did not cross over had no further improvements in pain or disability.”

SI-BONE, Inc. received 510(k) clearance in November 2008 from the Food and Drug Administration to market its iFuse Implant System. The company obtained the CE mark for European commercialization in November.