Page 14 - KF Magazine A4 2018 Final Standard

KF Deformity Steering Committee in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2015, with AOSpine Research Manager Niccole Germscheid. From left to right: Young Qiu,
Manabu Ito, Sigurd Berven, Kenneth Cheung, Ahmet Alanay, Marinus de Kleuver, Niccole Germscheid, Christopher Shaffrey, Lawrence Lenke, David Polly,
Stephen Lewis.
AOSpine Knowledge Forum Deformity:

A truly international spine deformity study group

The AOSpine Knowledge Forum (KF) Deformity is entering exciting times, harvesting the results of its first six years of research.
The group expects to generate several landmark papers and set the standard of care for deformity patients.

t was like a huge breath of fresh air,” chairperson Marinus The biggest study has been Scoli-RISK-1, a highly successful
de Kleuver describes the creation of KF Deformity. Global thought collaboration with SRS, initiated shortly before the KF was set up.
I leaders were brought together from inside and outside AOSpine. “This is, by far, the best existing international multicenter prospective
Lawrence Lenke had been attracted by the opportunity to set up the data on the rate of neurologic complications associated with adult
first truly international group and became the first co-chair. “I was a spinal deformity operations. The word is getting out and the results
bit shocked actually, let’s face it!” he says remembering the call from are being widely reported,” Cheung describes. Another major study
the AO from Luiz Vialle. “Someone calls you with an idea to develop is PEEDS, a prospective evaluation of elderly deformity surgery. “We
a global study group with guaranteed research funding. It was like made a real effort to design landmark studies that were knowledge
a dream come true!” The interaction of diverse opinion leaders generating. For this reason, some of our publications may take a bit
from all around the world generated exciting new ideas. “They had longer, the patient outcomes alone taking years,” de Kleuver adds.
to talk the talk, and walk the walk. Besides academic credibility, the The second category of studies has so far looked at defining an
members had to be clinically productive,” Lenke reminds. The new international consensus on optimal treatment for spinal deformity
KFs also helped dispel concerns about AO being guided by the patients—both in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and adult spinal
industrial partner, as the first AOSpine Research Commission chair deformity patients. Following this global effort, the group is embarking
and KF Deformity co-chair Kenneth Cheung adds.
on an intraoperative spinal cord monitoring study which will look at
At the time, AO already had a big name in trauma, but was not the role of monitoring in both pediatric and adult deformity surgeries.
as well-positioned within the spine deformity community. “And “Our aim is to come up with a standard of care, to find the state of
while, for example, the new KF Tumor group was filling a need in the art. This study will be revolutionary for surgical teams working
oncology, we already had some strong players in the world market with complex cases,” Lenke predicts. Another ground-braking study
in deformity,” de Kleuver reminds. The KF helped bridge AOSpine will categorize complications in all of spine surgery, and the sorely
with other renowned academic communities in the field, the most needed results are expected by early 2018. “There is no accepted
important being the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS). “There are a lot classification scheme when talking about complications. Concepts
of synergies, some natural overlap, but no real duplication, because like ‘major’ or ‘minor’ are all heterogeneous. With no standards, it is
the profiles are different. Our collaborations are very important also for difficult to compare studies or complication rates.” Lenke expects
getting global acceptance for our outcomes.” huge impact from this study. “AOSpine classifications will become a
standard to be proud of and a legacy for our group.”

Creating a common language “All these initiatives are aimed at creating a common language and
framework to communicate across different parties,” de Kleuver
KF Deformity research covers both adult and pediatric deformities. explains. “There is a myriad of outcome studies and instruments
The studies fall under two categories: large multi-center cohort out there, everybody uses different instruments to measure their
studies, generating new knowledge, and the development of quality of care. We help bring more rationale to the options that are
classification systems and outcome sets. available.”

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