BJJ News | I ssue 7 | J une 2015
Notes from the road
Reflections on BASS 2015, the Assembly Rooms, Bath
N. Birch
Fig. 1 Bass 2015 Eclipse over Bath
C
elestial bodies aligned to create a lunar eclipse of the sun
but could not dim the brightness that shone from the Assembly Rooms, Bath during the British Association of Spinal Surgeons (BASS) meeting, held 18-20 March 2015. In 2011, Otto von Arx and Maurice Paterson, two of the local orthopaedic spinal surgeons and BASS members, successfully bid for the right to hold the annual meeting of the British Association of Spinal Surgeons in Bath. They booked an impressive venue at the Assembly Rooms, which, although built in the 18th century, is ideally suited to a modern conference. In all, 320 spinal surgeons, 50 trainees and allied healthcare professionals (AHP), and 90 staff representing 21 companies attended the three-day event. The BOA had an impressive stand and Colin Howie, its President, gave a forward-looking talk entitled ‘Horizon Scanning’. Mike Kimmons, CEO, was present during the meeting and was of great assistance in helping orthopaedic spinal surgeons understand the present role of the BOA in national healthcare. There were 64 podium and 44 poster presentations covering a wide range of topics related to spinal surgery. These were of a very high standard, many given by impressively-assured junior trainees and AHPs.
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The keynote speakers came from around the world, including Europe, Scandinavia, North America, Australia, South Africa and the UK, and the attendees were highly appreciative of the time and effort they spent to bring their expertise and wisdom to the conference. The UK guest speakers’ talks were excellent, but David Jaffray from Oswestry, a past Trainer of the Year, won the Home Speaker Oscar when he captivated the audience with an amusing and sobering talk described his experience of managing spinal problems throughout a long and illustrious career. In the conference programme his abstract consisted of two sentences: “Millions of years of evolution have failed to produce a lumbar spine fit for purpose. Neither have I.” A sobering thought and one on which young and enthusiastic surgeons might wish to reflect. A wide range of topics were covered by speakers from Europe including the management of spinal tumours by Professor Stefano Boriani, a giant in the world of orthopaedic oncology; a presentation describing the difficulty of achieving sacral and pelvic fixation by Professor Brice Ilharreborde from Paris and a masterly examination of the evidence for specific timing in the surgical treatment of spinal cord injury by Dr Joost van Middendrop from the Netherlands. For many, however, it was Professor Peter