AO Spine Knowledge Forum Tumor

Leading the way in spine oncology research

Goals
Ongoing research projects
Completed research projects
Steering Committee
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Goals

AO Spine Knowledge Forum Tumor at the GSC 2022 in Las Vegas

AO Spine KF Tumor at the Global Spine Congress 2022 in Las Vegas, NV, US

AO Spine Knowledge Forum (KF) Tumor is an international group of dedicated spine oncology surgeons and oncologists who:

implement physician-driven landmark clinical studies;
advance patient care through multicenter analysis and peer-reviewed publications;
focus on both metastatic and the very rare primary spine tumors.

Ongoing research projects

Patient Expectations and Perceptions in Spinal Oncology (PEPSO)

Principal investigator:

Lenny Verkooijen

Co-Principal investigators:

Anne Versteeg, Charles Fisher

Goals:

Aims to develop an in-depth understanding of patient expectations of outcomes related to surgical treatment for spinal metastases

Documents:

Publication summary
* Metastatic Tumor Research and Outcomes Network (MTRON)

A multicenter prospective registry for the management and outcomes of metastatic spine tumors

Principal investigator:

Charles Fisher

Co-Principal investigators:

Arjun Sahgal, Ilya Laufer

Goals:

Aims to establish a network of spine oncology centers dedicated to prospective multicenter international research of patients diagnosed with metastatic tumors of the spine and will include a comprehensive prospective clinical database which will serve as a shared research platform. The association of clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic variables with patient reported outcomes, morbidity data, local tumor control, and survival will be investigated.

Documents:

Publication summary

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02830451
* Primary Tumor Research and Outcomes Network (PTRON)

A multicenter prospective registry for the management and outcomes of primary tumors of the spine

Principal investigator:

Jeremy Reynolds

Co-Principal investigators:

Nicolas Dea, Laurence Rhines

Goals:

Aims to establish a network of spine oncology centers dedicated to prospective multicenter international research of patients diagnosed with primary spinal column and cord tumors and will include a comprehensive prospective clinical database which will serve as a shared research platform. The association of clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic variables with survival, local recurrence, morbidity data, and patient reported outcomes will be investigated.

Documentation:

Publication summary

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02790983
*/** Epidemiology, Process, and Outcomes of Spine Oncology (EPOSO)

Principal investigator:

Charles Fisher

Co-Principal investigators:

Ziya Gokaslan

Goals:

Aims to prospectively collect patient, diagnostic and treatment variables along with disease-specific and generic health related quality of life (HRQOL) data on consecutively treated patients with metastatic spine tumors

Remark:

This project received co-funding from the Orthopaedic Research & Education Foundation (OREF) through a Spine Prospective Clinical Research Grant

Documents:

Publication summary
Questionnaire (SOSGOQ2.0)
Manuscript (SOSGOQ2.0)

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01825161
Precision Medicine in Spinal Oncology: An Overview from the AO Spine Knowledge Forum Tumor

Principal investigators:

Dr. Laurence Rhines, MD, Dr. Arjun Sahgal, MD

Goal:

To provide an overview on precision medicine in spinal oncology

* This AO Spine-sponsored study is executed with support from the AO Innovation Translation Center (AO ITC).

** Award-winning project

Completed research projects

** Primary Tumor Retrospective (PT Retro)

Predictors of mortality and morbidity in the surgical management of primary tumors of the spine: a multi-center retrospective cohort study with a cross-sectional survival check

Principal investigator:

Charles Fisher

Co-Principal investigators:

Ziya Gokaslan

Goals:

Determined what variables (clinical, diagnostic, therapeutic, or demographic) are associated with local recurrence and survival within defined groups of primary malignant and benign bone and soft tissue spine tumors
i. Overall analysis – analysis of the complete collection
ii. Histotype analysis – analysis of each tumor histotype. Each histotype (13 identified) will undergo a separate analysis by assigned project members

Documents:

Publication summary

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01643174
TERT (an extension of PT Retro)

An analysis of the role of the TERT promoter mutations in retrospectively collected primary spinal column tumors

Principal investigator:

Chetan Bettegowda

Co-Principal investigators:

Ziya Gokaslan

Goals:

Determined the rates of TERT promoter mutation (mutation of the promoter of the telomerase gene
[23348506,23348503]) and its prognostic significance in primary spinal column tumors

Documents:

Publication summary
FFPE Chordoma (an extension of PT Retro)

FFPE=Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded tissue. An analysis of the role of the single nucleotide polymorphism rs2305089 in retrospectively collected chordomas

Principal investigator:

Chetan Bettegowda

Co-Principal investigators:

Stephen Yip

Goals:

Aimed to determine the role that the SNP rs2305089 has in the prognosis of chordoma patients by evaluating whether there is a relationship between the status of the SNP and various clinical outcomes/measures (eg, survival, local recurrence, response to radiation therapy, response to chemotherapy, link to metastasis, demographics)

Documents:

Publication summary
Systematic Reviews
Systematic reviews about the outcomes of surgical treatment of metastases to the spine and primary tumors of the spine

Principal investigator:

Charles Fisher

Co-Principal investigators:

Michelle Clarke, Daniel Sciubba, Daryl Fourney

Goals:

Performed a systematic review of the literature for prognostic factors specific to:
i. surgical treatment of prostate metastases to the spine
ii. surgical treatment of breast metastases to the spine
iii. surgical treatment of renal cell metastases to the spine
iv. surgical treatment of lung metastases to the spine
v. symptomatic vertebral hemangioma

Performed a systematic review of the literature for the management of malignant primary tumors of the spine

Documents:

Publication summary
AO Spine Oncology Focus Issue 2016

Focus Issue II in Spine Oncology:

Evidence-based Medicine Recommendations for Spine Oncology

Principal investigator:

Charles Fisher

Goals:

Produced a spine oncology Focus Issue which synthesizes the best available evidence and expert opinion in the management of primary spinal column tumors and metastatic spine disease

Documents:

Focus Issue
Spinal lnstability Neoplastic Score (SINS)

Interdisciplinary validity and reliability of the SINS instability score in radiologists and radiation oncologists

Principal investigator:

Charles Fisher

Goals:

Assessed the inter- and intra-observer reliability and validity of SINS in radiologists and radiation oncologists

Documents:

Publication summary
Stabilize or Not to Stabilize

Biomechanics-based Guidelines in Case of Indeterminate Spinal Instability Neoplastic Score (SINS)

Principal investigator:

Marco Palanca

Co-Principal investigator:

Luca Cristofolini

Goals:

Aims to identify the effects of metastatic lesions on the spine stability in order to create more specific and clear guidelines for the indeterminate SINS cases

Documents:

Publication summary
Prognosis Evaluation of Solitary Plasmacytoma of Bone

Exploration and Clinical Application of New Indicators for Prognosis Evaluation of Solitary Plasmacytoma of Bone

Principal investigator:

Hanqiang Ouyang

Co-Principal investigators:

Liang Jiang, Shaomin Yang

Goals:

Aims to use high-throughput sequencing technology to conduct genome-wide association analysis to study gene mutations related to early progression of solitary plasmacytoma of bone to multiple myeloma

Documents:

Publication summary
Nanoparticles for Intramedullary Spinal Cord Tumors (IMSCT)

Determining Efficacy and Toxicity of Magnetically Guided Nanoparticles for Intramedullary Spinal Tumors

Principal investigator:

Ankit I. Mehta

Goals:

Aims to evaluate doxorubicin-loaded magnetic nanoparticles (MNP-DOX) for IMSCTs compared to systemic and intrathecal chemotherapy in an orthotopic xenograft tumor model
Development of a Spine Oncology Specific Utility Score (SOSUS)

Principal investigator:

Nicolas Dea

Co-Principal investigators:

Charles Fisher, Anne Versteeg, Arjun Sahgal, Mark Pahuta

Goal:

Aims to develop a valid and reliable disease-specific utility score for spine oncology

Documents:

Publication summary
Effective Radiation Therapy Regimes for Spinal Chordoma (RT in Chordoma)

Principal investigator:

Nicolas Dea

Co-Principal investigators:

Jeremy Reynolds, John Shin, Charles Fisher

Goals:

Aims to understand the current treatment strategies and identify the most effective radiation therapy regime for the treatment of spinal chordoma
There are two aspects to this study:
i. Expert survey based on clinical practice
ii. Systematic literature review

Documents:

Publication summary
Optimal Care Pathway and Treatment Guideline for Primary Tumors of the Spine

Principal investigator:

Raphaële Charest-Morin

Co-Principal investigators:

Nicholas Dea, Arjun Sahgal, Ilya Laufer

Goals:

Aims to define the optimal care pathway for patients with primary spinal column tumors

** Award-winning project

AO Spine KF Tumor Steering Committee

KF Tumor Advisory Board

KF Tumor Associate Members

Ori Barzilai, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
Antonio Martin Benlloch, Hospital Universitario Doctor Peset, Valencia, Spain
Mark Bilsky, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
Riccardo Cecchinato, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
Raphaële Charest-Morin, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Hanbo Chen, Sunnybrook Odette Cancer Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
Dean Chou, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
Michelle Clarke, Mayo Clinic, Department of Neurologic Surgery, Rochester, MN, USA
Alexander Disch, Universitätsklinikum Cal Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany
Wietse Eppinga, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Michael Fehlings, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Michael Galgano, University of North Carolina, Department of Neurosurgery, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Tony Goldschlager, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Alvaro Silva Gonzalez, University of El Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
Matthew Goodwin, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
Rory Goodwin, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA Francis Hornicek, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
Michael Johnson, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Mohammed Karim, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, MN, USA
Naresh Kumar, National University Hospital, Singapore
Sheng-fu Larry Lo, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, New York, NY, USA
Daniel Lubelski, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Alessandro Luzzati, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi, Milan, Italy
Ankit I. Mehta, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Addisu Mesfin, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Jacques Müller-Broich, Orthopedic University Hospital Friedrichsheim, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Tianyi Niu, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
Cordula Netzer, Universitätsspital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Christopher Newman, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
John O'Toole, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA
Hanqiang Ouyang, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China
Markian Pahuta, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI, USA
Shalin Patel, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
Shreyaskumar Patel, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
Kristin Redmond, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
Joost Rutges, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Markus Schultheiss, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany
Joseph Schwab, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Daniel Sciubba, North Shore University Hospital, Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY, USA
John Shin, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Byron Stephens, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
Patricia Sullivan, Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University (part of Warren Alpert Medical School), Providence, RI, USA
Zsolt Szövérfi, National Center for Spinal Disorders, Budapest, Hungary
Claudio E. Tatsui, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
Michael Weber, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
Feng Wei, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China
Josh Yamada, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
Stephen Yip, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC Canada
Scott Zuckerman, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA

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