VHIR wins an award at the Congress of the Spanish Society of Spine

The Spine Research Unit of the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), led by Dr. Ferran Pellisé, won the second prize for the best communication at the GEER Congress of the Spanish Society for the Study of Spine Diseasse, held in June in Toledo. The awarded work "ADSC, an index to stratify the risk of complications in surgery of the spinal deformity in adults," introduces the development and validation of a new tool to weigh the complexity of spinal deformity surgery.

According to Dr. Pellisé, the tool presented at the congress "would allow to stratify the risk related to surgical strategy preoperatively." Thus, he says, could advise patients and help clinicians in making decisions.

The development and validation of the project was based on two consecutive procedures but mutually inclusive: a delphi method through three rounds of consensus which involved 51 European experts, and a final construction of a multiple regression model. The variables included in the formula are those that determine the complexity inherent in every surgical strategy: artrodesats levels, decompression, interbody fusions, number and type of osteotomies, pelvic fixation, cemented levels, if the area was an area previously operated, density implants and experience of the surgical team.

The work is part of the projects carried out within the European Spine Study Group (ESSG). This international group, led by Dr. Pellisé and coordinated by VHIR, began in 2010 and now includes six research groups focused on the study of adult spinal deformity.