Asia Pacific Cervical Spine Society & Spinal Trauma Techniques Course

Dr Ball attended these 2 back-to-back meetings in Sydney in early November.

The Spinal Trauma Techniques Course was hosted by Medtronic Australasia on November 1 - 2. This course focussed on management of spinal trauma conditions in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine with a guest presenster from Vancouver, Canada, Dr Marcel Dvorak.

The 4th Asia Pacific Cervical Spine Society Meeting was held from November 3 - 6 and focussed on a wide range of cervical spine topics including "myelopathy, OPLL,deformity, adjacent segment disease, rheumatoid disease, spinal cord injury, cervical spinal column trauma and tumour and on the underlying biomechanics in the emerging specialty of cervical motion preservation devices."

Neurosurgical Society of Australasia Annual Meeting

Dr Ball has attended the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia's Annual Scientific Meeting.

Highlights of the meeting included a session on spinal surgery with the guest speaker being Dr John Hurlbert from the University of Calgary, with whom Dr Ball has studied previously. Dr Ball also attended a valuable seminar on patient centred practice.

The NSA is committed to the study and advancement of the art and science of neurosurgery and its membership includes over 95% of all Australasian neurosurgeons. Its annual scientific meeting is the peak neurosurgical meeting in Australasia.

First Case in North Shore Private Hospital Expansion

North Shore Private Hospital, where Dr Ball works, has opened its redevelopment and expansion. The neurosurgical ward has moved to a new ward where all patients now have private single rooms, all with ensuites.

The redevelopment includes a new neurosurgical operating theatre with enhanced capabilities for image guided and minimally invasive surgery. It is a fully equipped Stryker iSuite digital operating room with state of the art equipment including Zeiss microscope and BrainLab BrainSuite equipment.

Dr Ball was honoured to perform the first operations in this new operating room and looks forward to continue to provide the very best of surgical care in this exciting environment.

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Teaching

Dr Ball has given an invited presentation on Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Techniques at the Approaches to Lumbar Spine Course held by DePuy Spine at the Macquarie University Hospital.

Speaking to a group of spine surgeons, Dr Ball shared his experience of minimally invasive spine surgery techniques in a lecture followed by instructing in a practical hands-on workshop.

Dr Ball is honoured to have been recognised for his experience in this area and the opportunity to share his thoughts and ideas with his colleagues.

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Presentation

Dr Ball has given a presentation on Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (MISS) to the Cerebrospinal Forum (CSF) - a group of allied health staff from Royal North Shore Hospital and North Shore Private Hospital with an interest in neurosurgical care.

The presentation outlined the principles behind the philosophy of MISS and highlighted the challenges and limitations, as well as the expected benefits of these approaches.

Minimally invasive spine surgery describes a philosophy of spine surgery where minimising damage to the normal spinal structures is a key goal of surgery. This goal can apply to both the surgical approach to the spine and the intervention on the spine itself. The potential benefits of this philosophy are less pain, quicker recovery, shorter hospital stay and fewer long term complications. Minimally invasive spine surgery is also known as minimal access spine surgery or less invasive spine surgery. It is an emerging specialised area, which requires specific training in instrumentation and techniques. Dr Ball has had specilaised training in minimally invasive spine surgery.

Surgical Education Courses

Dr Ball recently attended 2 courses held by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons in Newcastle, NSW. The Supervisors and Trainers for Surgical Education and Training (SAT SET) course covered how to effectively fulfill the responsibilities expected as a surgical educator under the new Surgical Education and Training (SET) program. The Surgical Teachers Course emphasised improving educational skills, which were further developed during the course through practical application.

7th Asia Pacific Spine Symposium

Dr Ball has attended the 7th Asia Pacific Spine Symposium held in Brisbane, QLD by Stryker Spine. This meeting gathered "global opinion leaders ..... to focus on minimally invasive spine interventions and emerging cervical spine surgical techniques".

Dr Ball attended sessions on cervical arthroplasty (disc replacement) and spine navigation technology. He is now accredited to use the Cervicore disc replacement prosthesis.

Elevating Best Practice in Spine

Dr Ball has attended an course on spinal osteotomy held as part of the Elevating Best Practice in Spine program offered by DePuy Spine.

Osteotomies are an advanced spine surgery technique that allows correction of complex deformities of the spine. The course brought together complex spine surgeons from around Australia to extend their skills in this area of surgery.

Dr Ball also spoke on anterior cervical spinal surgery (through the front of the neck) as part of the same education series.

Sydney Neurospine is Moving to a New Location

Sydney Neurospine, the practice of Dr Jonathon Ball is moving to a new office in the North Shore Medical Centre from June 10, 2010.

We are staying in the same building but moving to a newly renovated office on Level 6. This larger office will allow us to provide the same service in a space specially designed for the needs of our patients and practice.

Our phone number and contact details remain the same and Sydney Neurospine will continue as normal during this period.

Our new address is

Suite 1, Level 6

North Shore Medical Centre

66 Pacific Highway

St Leonards NSW 2065

Spine Cancer Presentation

Last week, Dr Ball was invited to speak to the NSW Radiation Oncology Training Program held at Royal North Shore Hospital about the role of surgery and radiation treatment for spinal metastases. Invited attendees included all members of the training program from NSW.

As treatment of cancer improves, metatstatic cancer in the spine is an increasingly common condition which, in some cases, can be helped with surgery. Working together with the other specialists involved, such as radiation oncologists, can lead to improved outcomes for patients.

Further Educational Achievements

After recently teaching on another Early Management of Severe Trauma Course at Royal North Shore Hospital, Dr Ball has been awarded 'Senior Instructor' status by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Dr Ball is also now a co-director and committee member of the Australian and New Zealand Surgical Skills Education and Training (ASSET) course, also run by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Dr Ball's commitment to medical education continues to be a major focus of his career and he believes it benefits his practice and patients by encouraging ongoing knowledge acquisition and skills improvement.

Spinal Surgery Workshop

Dr Ball just returned from a 2 day workshop on spinal surgery held by the Neurosurgical Society of Australasia. The workshop was limited to 30 practicing neurosurgeons who have a strong clinical interest in spinal surgery.

This workshop covered a wide range of issues related to spinal surgery, covering minimally invasive spine surgery, biologics, trauma, reconstructive techniques and revision strategies. Dr Ball gave a well received presentation on the non-operative management of thoraco-lumbar spine fractures.

Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury Paper

Dr Ball, together with some international colleagues, has had a paper e-published (ahead of print) entitled 'Clinical Predictors of Recovery after Blunt Spinal Cord Trauma: Systematic Review' in the Journal of Neurotrauma.

The paper examines what evidence exists for clinical, imaging, and therapeutic factors affecting recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI).