Get thee to Duck Key—in four weeks (or join virtually).
One spine meeting that consistently rises to the top is the Castellvi Spine Symposium, formerly known as the Preservation of Motion in the Spine meeting—which convenes in about four weeks (May 10-13) in beautiful Hawk’s Cay, Duck Key, Florida.
Why should you go? Let’s count the reasons.
- Intimacy and a rich schedule of hands-on work shops.
- Superior faculty. It certainly helps that the meeting is held in the Florida Keys. It’s amazing how many top lecturers are ready for sea breezes after hibernating all winter in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Denver, or Minneapolis.
- State of the art information covering artificial intelligence, motion preservation, biomechanics, deformity, trauma, the latest techniques for tough cases, hands-on cadaver labs, and a full slate of tech talks.
Snowbirds take note. It is so great to attend these courses with ocean sounds wafting through the open windows.
The course directors are James B. Billys, M.D., Boyle Cheng, Ph.D., John Small, M.D., Ira Fedder, M.D., Bill Welch, M.D., FACS, and Alejandro Castellvi, M.D.
If you attend you will come away with an improved ability to assess and critique:
- Complex reconstructions
- Artificial disc replacement
- Use of stem cells and biologics
- Spine biomechanics
- Management of complications
- New treatment modalities, including navigation and software based instruments
- Emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence
Bring Your Whole Team
Calling all orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgical and neurosurgical assistants including physician assistants, nurse practitioners, orthopedic nurses, and neurosurgical nurses. That’s right. The whole team. The Castellvi meeting at Hawks Cay is designed to elevate the surgeon and the team. Since the morning is set aside for lectures and hands-on clinical sessions, the afternoon is a great time for your team to relax and perhaps do some planning away from the day-to-day demands back home.
The Faculty
Many of these names will be familiar, they are frequent contributors to major spine journals: And here are some of the lecture topics:
- Basic Science
- Additive Manufacturing for interbody devices
- Structure
- Pelvic Fixation
- Surface Charge and Bone Apposition
- Motion Preservation
- Present and future designs in total disc replacement
- Lumbar Total Disc Replacement
- Cervical Total Disc Replacement
- Facet Replacement
- Patient selection: Lumbar / Cervical
- Power of Large Data and How Artificial Intelligence will Inform Spine Surgery
- Predictive models and AI applications in Spine Surgery
- Regenerative Medicine in Spine and Neural Injury
- The Barrier of Preauthorization
- Physician Burnout: What is it and How to Combat?
- Boundary Issues: Spine Surgeon and Interventional Physician
- Understanding Orthobiologics
- PRP: Contents and Formulation
- Pediatric Deformity: Recent Advances
- Vascular Considerations of the Anterior Approach for Deformity
- Pros vs Cons:
- Isthmic Spondylolisthesis
- Scoliosis
This will be my eighteenth year attending and frankly, under the direction of Jim Billys and his team of advisors, the Castellvi course improves each year. I hope to see many of our readers in Hawks Cay.
Don’t delay with your registration since openings are limited. To learn more and to register, go to this  this link.
