Spinal Surgery

Swedish Lumbar Spine Study Group, which uses the country's centralized healthcare system to collect data on all spinal procedures and evaluates these.No surgical method thus gains an untested advantage and popularity in clinical practice.In the German speaking areas, Spine Tango, the data collection system of the Spine Society of Europe, could fill this vacancy and form a basis for multicenter studies, should the scientific societies not wish to take this upon themselves.Any scientific activities should be strictly independent from the medicotechnical industry.This is true especially for newly established methods.Inappropriately close links between treating doctors and the medicotechnical industry culminated in a public hearing of the US Senate in February this year.The individual results of spinal surgery can vary enormously, even if the indication was correct and the surgery conducted to perfection.It is therefore even more important to expand clinical research and quality control.Currently, there is no shortage of suitable surgical procedures to treat spinal stenoses, but their systematic study will have to be advanced.Targeted health services research and strict quality assurance criteria for all surgical institutions can guide the increase in numbers of surgical procedures and indications.The confidence in referring doctors and patients in spinal surgery can only be maintained in the longer term once the limitations of current methods have been clearly circumscribed.