The 12th annual Castellvi Spine Meeting, now re-located to a much easier to reach Key West (airport), is featuring debates!
May 11th Spine Meeting Features DEBATES!
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A surprisingly low number (probably less than 5%) of orthopedic or spine meetings schedule real, knock-down, drag out debates on the important procedural, product and other surgical topics of the day.
Yet, educational meeting that do, tend to attract the most surgeon attendees.
Current Concepts in Joint Replacement (CCJR), which has made surgeon debates the centerpiece of their program, fills massive auditoriums with surgeons at their twice-a-year meetings in Orlando and Las Vegas.
Why?
Because you learn more, remember more, and enjoy the process more when you are in the audience of a strong, well fought debate by two smart, experienced surgeons.
Debates Teach Better Than Lectures
In 1908, Edwin Shurter wrote that “Perhaps no study equals debate in the acquirement of the power of logical thinking combined with clear expression.”
Debating is an ancient and honorable 2,500-year method of learning.
It was the original Greek and Roman educational practice and is at the center of all Greek and Roman philosophies of education.
Competitive debating builds a depth of understanding, an ability to absorb complex analysis and encourages critical thinking that no dry lecture could.
They are a way of looking at problems that forces each speaker to justify their acts, beliefs, attitudes, and values.
For surgeons who deal with all types of patients and who are bombarded by all kinds of product claims and theories—debates are utterly essential for figuring what is real and what is not.
Once you’ve experienced the intellectual excitement and rigor of a well debated issue—you never want to go back to another lecture.
The Castellvi Debates for May 11th
Make sure you book your flights to Key West today.
Here are the debates and debators who will be squaring off at the Casa Marina Resort in Key West on May 11th.
| Is the Price of Navigation Worth the Cost of Admission? | ||
| Moderated by: | William Welch, M.D. | Professor of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. |
| Yes, it is | Robert Isaacs, M.D. | Neurosurgeon and Director of Spine Surgery at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. |
| No, it isn’t | Marc Weinstein, M.D. | Orthopaedic spine surgeon with the Florida Orthopaedic Institute. Residency from Yale School of Medicine. |
| Is Post Expandable Technology Worth It When You Can Just Do an MIS ALIF? | ||
| Moderated by: | William Welch, M.D. | Professor of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. |
| Yes, it is | Joseph Zavatsky, M.D. | Orthopaedic spine surgeon with the Spine and Scoliosis Specialists in Tampa, Florida. Fellowship NYU School of Medicine. |
| No, it isn’t | John Small, M.D. | Orthopaedic spine surgeon with the Florida Orthopaedic Institute. Residency at Univ of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. |
| Is a Lumbar TDR Worth it vs a Standalone ALIF? | ||
| Moderated by: | William Welch, M.D. | Professor of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. |
| Yes, it is | Rolando Garcia, M.D. | Orthopaedic spine surgeon with the Orthopedic Care Center in Miami, Florida. Residency at North Carolina Spine Center, in Chapel Hill. |
| No, it isn’t | Marc Weinstein, M.D. | Orthopaedic spine surgeon with the Florida Orthopaedic Institute. Residency from Yale School of Medicine. |
| Is BMP & PEEK Worth It vs. Textured PEEK or 3D Printing? | ||
| Moderated by: | John Small, M.D. | Orthopaedic spine surgeon with the Florida Orthopaedic Institute. Residency at Univ of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. |
| Yes, it is | William Welch, M.D. | Professor of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. |
| No, it isn’t, PEEK | Robert Isaacs, M.D. | Neurosurgeon and Director of Spine Surgery at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. |
| No, it isn’t, 3D | Boyle Cheng, PhD | Neurosurgeon, faculty member of Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at Drexel University in Pittsburgh. |
| Post Facet Replacement? Really? | ||
| Moderated by: | John Small, M.D. | Orthopaedic spine surgeon with the Florida Orthopaedic Institute. Residency at Univ of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. |
| Yes, of course | Scott A. Webb, M.D. | Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon with the Florida Spine Institute. Residency at Mt. Clemens General Hospital in Michigan. |
| No, of course not | William Welch, M.D. | Professor of Neurosurgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. |
| Robotic Screw Placement or Fluoroscopic Placement? | ||
| Moderated by: | John Small, M.D. | Orthopaedic spine surgeon with the Florida Orthopaedic Institute. Residency at Univ of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. |
| Yes, of course | Steven Tresser, M.D. | Neurosurgeon with the Florida Orthopaedic Institute in Tampa, Florida. Residence at Case Western University Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. |
| No, of course not | Scott A. Webb, M.D. | Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon with the Florida Spine Institute. Residency at Mt. Clemens General Hospital in Michigan. |
This is a great line up of debators, moderators and subjects.
I’ll be there. I hope you’ll be there too. Here’s a link for Castellvi Spine Meeting Registration.
React:
Discussion
This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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