2nd International Symposium and Cadaver Workshop for Transforaminal Endoscopic Spine Surgery

The International Intradiscal Therapy and Transforaminal Spine Society (IITTSS) announces the 2nd Comprehensive Surgical Pain Management and Endoscopic Transforaminal Surgical Access Workshop: Featuring the YESS Technique and complementary techniques.

Building on the great success of the first fully subscribed workshop, this course, sponsored by IITTSS, will feature uniquely successful MIS techniques utilized by endoscopic spine surgeon Anthony Yeung and the surgeons at Desert Institute for Spine Care (DISC) for the treatment of painful degenerative conditions of the lumbar spine.

The workshop will include educational lectures, live operations performed by Dr. Yeung, and a cadaver workshop for surgeons to learn his techniques.

The International Intradiscal Therapy Society, one of the earliest MIS societies founded to promote the introduction of chymopapain, has demonstrated that intradiscal therapy is effective and the only technique validated by level 1 EBM. We continue to carry out that vision and philosophy and technique, but expand to support the evolution of intradiscal therapy to transforaminal decompression of the lumbar spine as the most versatile and least invasive of the various methods available.

When: September 6-8, 2012
Where: Phoenix, Arizona
Venue: Desert Institute for Spine Care & Squaw Peak Surgical Facility

The workshop promises to be a one-of-a-kind workshop introducing practical information on the least invasive MIS techniques, backed by 25 years of experience and thousands of cases evolving following an IRB approved study in 1997 initiated and developed by Dr. Yeung, but evolving over the past 25 years since chymopapain. Dr. Yeung focuses on identifying and treating the pain generators that originate from the disc and the facet joints.

Click the headings below for more information.

Course and Workshop Schedule

In addition to intradiscal therapy, OTHER MIS foraminal and percutaneous techniques, encompassing spinal decompression, dynamic stabilization, and fusion techniques that preserve normal anatomy consistent with Dr. Yeung’s surgical philosophy will be included.

All attendees will take away useful information immediately applicable to your practices, but it will especially be valuable for surgeons who are already performing endoscopic foraminal decompression and wish to update themselves on new concepts, techniques, instruments and indications for patients with painful degenerative conditions of the lumbar spine.

This course is patient-focused, designed for surgeons who incorporate interventional pain management techniques in their practice and will include a few very highly selected interventionalists who work with traditional surgeons, have learned good surgical judgment, and accept Dr. Yeung’s treatment philosophy. It is especially valuable for physicians who have attended previous YESS didactic and cadaver workshops.

The course will update the attendee on the newest and least invasive surgical methods for treating the pain generator as determined by the endoscopic visualization of patho-anatomy.

The course will be held at the DISC campus and Squaw Peak Surgical Facility. It will be limited to the first 75 MIS spine surgeons and selected pain interventionalists who work closely with MIS surgeons in an affiliated or group practice.

A course syllabus will be provided, along with peer reviewed bibliography, and presentation of edited surgical training DVD’s of each procedure featured. In case of oversubscription, priority will be given to those already performing transforaminal endoscopic surgery or who have attended previous workshops sponsored by Richard Wolf or Amendia. (Submitting your CV may also place you higher on the priority list.)

Download Full Workshop Description

Symposium and Workshop Topics

Accommodating participant requests by Lectures, Video Demonstrations, Live, or Cadaver Demonstrations

• The Incidence and Diagnosis of Lumbar Pain – Steve Levine, MD
• Diagnostic Blocks to Confirm Lumbar Facet Mediated Pain – Steve Levine, MD
• Foraminal Anatomy, Normal, Variable and Anomalous
• Identifying the Pain Generator with Diagnostic Injections and Endoscopic Probing
• Evocative Chromo Discography – Steve Levine, MD
• Identifying the Conditions Ideal for Foraminal Surgical Decompression and Nerve Ablation – Chris Yeung, MD
• Disc FX (Elliquence) as a Foraminal Decompression and Thermal Annuloplasty Procedure. Distinguished as Different and More Effective than IDET (A Precursor to Endoscopic Foraminal Decompression). – Anthony T. Yeung, MD
• Selective Endoscopic Discectomy (Ideal Indications) – Chris Yeung, MD
• Dorsal Endoscopic Rhizotomy (Visualized Technique) – Justin Field, MD
• Foraminoplasty for Lateral Recess Stenosis – Anthony T. Yeung, MD
• Treatment of FBSS: Technique and Results – Anthony T. Yeung, MD
• Spinal Column (SCS) and Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation with an External Remote Power Source – Laura Perryman, PhD
• Transforaminal Fusion and MIS Posterior Stabilization (Amendia)
• Lateral Access Decompression and Stabilization (Amendia)
• Aware State Anesthesia and Avoidance of Propofol – Le Thai, MD
• Course Background article “In–vivo Endoscopic Visualization of Patho-anatomy in Symptomatic Degenerative Conditions of the Lumbar Spine II: Intradiscal, Foraminal, and Central Canal Decompression” Surgical Tech International XXI, 2012