I Training Course in Endoscopic Biportal Spine Surgery arrives in Spain

• This revolutionary technique, in full expansion, allows spinal surgeries with a drastic reduction in hospital stay and without admission to the ICU in the postoperative period.
• The course will be given by neurosurgeons Pedro Llinás, head of the Neurosurgery Service, Crhistian García and Gonçalo de Oliveira, pioneers in working with this minimally invasive technique in Spain.
• The congress will also feature South Korean experts Dr. YongSang Kim and Dr. Dae-Jung Choi.

On 5 and 6 May, the Policlínica Group, in Ibiza, will host the first workshop on endoscopic biportal spinal surgery to be held in Spain, in which both theoretical and practical training will be given.

This minimally invasive technique, developed at the Barun Hospital in South Korea, makes it possible to operate on spinal pathology, reducing the hospital stay to one night and without the need to go to the ICU in the postoperative period, also reducing the rate of complications for the patient and the pain after the operation.

Two South Korean specialists, Drs. Yong Sang Kim and Dae-Jung Choi, the main promoters of this method, will accompany the neurosurgeons from Grupo Policlínica Pedro Llinás, Gonçalo de Oliveira and Crhistian García, at the training congress.

"The main advance of this technique compared to traditional techniques is that it does not produce any instability on the muscles and joints of the lumbar spine, which means that patients do not require any fixation system," says Dr. Pedro Llinás. "Compared to conventional endoscopic surgery (uniportal), the great advantage is its versatility and manoeuvrability, being able to resolve any type of degenerative pathology of the spine more easily," he adds.

This highly complex operation, in which the Policlínica Group has been a pioneer in Spain, is particularly suitable for treating lumbar or thoracic disc herniation in any location, canal stenosis and other types of degenerative pathology of the spine involving compression of the nerve roots or the spinal cord. "Lately, this technique is also being used successfully for the removal of some types of spinal tumours," reports the specialist.

Live surgeries

The comprehensive training programme of this scientific meeting includes a theoretical part, in which the endoscopic anatomy of the spine will be reviewed, and in which the most common approaches that can be used to resolve practically any degenerative pathology of the spine will be analysed by means of videos of real cases.

In addition, two live surgeries will be attended virtually with an interactive video format, through which attendees will be able to see the same images as the surgeon and comment on the different points of the intervention.

Innovation and efficiency

Biportal endoscopic spinal surgery consists of introducing a 4 millimetre diameter camera (endoscope) and a series of precision instruments into the spinal column through two minimal incisions in the skin, at the level of the back. In this way, a high-definition image is obtained that significantly surpasses the vision obtained even with a surgical microscope, which reduces the possibility of damaging the nerve structures, makes it possible to fine-tune with great precision and reach any corner of the spine, however inaccessible it may be for conventional techniques.

This technique is a great advance over traditional spinal endoscopy, as the indications and the type of pathologies that can be treated are much broader and the recovery time is much shorter and with fewer complications.

Developed in 2015 in South Korea, this surgery was introduced in Spain shortly afterwards by Grupo Policlínica and is currently in full expansion worldwide, due to its high efficacy and important advantages for patients.

Numerous specialists, both from Spain and other European countries, will attend this training course to learn the most relevant aspects of this new and increasingly well-known technique, which is already revolutionising spinal surgery.