Both EUROSPINE 2020 and the North American Spine Society (NASS) annual meetings recently announced that their respective in-person meetings are canceled for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both meetings were originally scheduled for overlapping dates in early-October.
Spine Meetings Go Virtual This Fall
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The 35th NASS Annual Meeting was originally scheduled to take place in San Diego, California, October 7-10. The meeting was cancelled on July 3; the announcement mentioned forthcoming details for a virtual meeting replacement. Currently, the meeting website’s FAQ suggests that further details on the dates, fees, and program for the virtual meeting will be announced mid-July or early-August. Exhibitor refunds are expected to be processed by the end of July. NASS is offering to refund or apply registration fees for attendees to the virtual event or future NASS courses.
EUROSPINE 2020, originally planned to be held October 6-9 in Vienna, Austria, will be held virtually on the same dates. Registration for the virtual meeting is currently open on the EUROSPINE website. The organization has lowered the attendance fees for registrations prior to June 30 to € 245 (est. $277 USD) for members and € 495 (est. $560 USD) for non-members, and is issuing refunds for overpayment for those who registered prior to the announcement of the cancellation and full refunds to anyone who no longer wishes to attend.
The Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) has made the decision to cancel its 2020 meeting, originally scheduled for September 12-16 in Miami, Florida. The organization announced that the 2020 meeting will not be rescheduled or offered in a virtual format, instead some aspects of the 2020 meeting will be combined with the 2021 meeting in Austin, Texas, scheduled for October 16-20, 2021.
Other meetings that have moved to an online, virtual format include the Scoliosis Research Society’s 55th annual meeting, now online and scheduled for September 9-12, 2020 with registration opening in August. Additionally, the Spine Intervention Society has moved its August 6-8, 2020 meeting online with registration open now.
Some meetings currently scheduled for later in 2020 have yet to be canceled or rescheduled. For example, the Cervical Spine Research Society meeting is still planned for December 10-12, 2020 in Las Vegas with plans for a hybrid meeting with a virtual participation option to accommodate those still under travel restrictions through December. The Lumbar Spine Research Society 2020 meeting was originally scheduled for April 2-3 and postponed until November 12-13, 2020; plans for which are still underway.
Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, especially in the U.S.; and the future is far from certain. Meetings still planned for the fall and winter of 2020/2021 are subject to change as the year progresses.
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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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