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.