Minnesota Neurosurgical Society

Dr. Catherine Miller won the Piepgras Award for Clinical Research with her paper, The use of anticoaguation and antiplatelet agents before removal of EVDs – how safe is it? Dr. Paramita Das won the Piepgras Award for Basic Science Research with her presentation, Foxr2: An oncogene in medulloblastoma. Both presentations were given at the Society’s annual academic meeting on Saturday, September 27th, 2014 and the awards were announced by the Society President, Dr. Matthew Hunt, during the dinner at Pazzaluna Restaurant that evening. Each recipient also received a $500 stipend from the Society.

Grant Mallory, MD (Posteorlateral lumbar spinal arthrodesis with femoral head allograft: A case control study) and Christopher Graffeo, MD  (Procedure exposure and confidence (PEAC) survey results – lumbar puncture) received honorable mentions and a $250 stipend for their presentations in the clinical and research categories respectively.

The Society chose twenty-two presentations to be included in the 2014 Academic meeting. Congratulations to Drs. Das, Miller, Graffeo and Mallory and to all the contributors to this year’s program.

Scientific Session I: Spine
8:10 am – 9:40 am
Moderator: Ann Parr, MD, University of Minnesota, Neurosurgery

8:10 – 8:25 am ​Hamid Abbasi, MD, PhD – Oblique lateral lumbar interbody fusion (OLLIF): Technical notes and early results of a single surgeon comparative study
8:25 – 8:40 am ​Mohamed Ali, MBBS – Unrecognized dynamic myelopathy of the cervical spine, a recipe for unnecessary biopsy
8:40 – 8:55 am ​Dominique Higgins, MS – Understanding the impact of obesity on short term outcomes after instrumented spinal fusion
8:55 – 9:10 am​ Grant Mallory, MD – Posteorlateral lumbar spinal arthrodesis with femoral head allograft: A case control study
9:10 – 9:25 am​ Catherine Miller, MD – The use of anticoagulation and antiplatelet agents before removal of EVDs – how safe is it?
9:25 – 9:40 am ​Dino Terzic, MD – Glial scar in spinal cord injury – Surmounting obstacles in spinal cord repair

Scientific Session II: Skull Base and Tumor / Vascular
9:55 am – 11:55 am
Moderator: Michelle Clarke, MD, Mayo Clinic, Neurosurgery

9:55 – 10:10 am ​Anthony Burrows, MD – Endovascular treatment of primary CNS tumors: A review
10:10 – 10:25 am​ Stepan Capek, MD – Perineural tumor spread in pelvic malignancies
10:40 – 10:55 am ​Joshua Hughes, MD – Risk factors for hydrocephalus requiring external ventricular drainage in patients with intraventricular hemorrhage
10:55 – 11:10 am​ Walter Low, PhD – Treatment of ischemic brain injury with human umbilical cord blood stem cells – mechanisms of action
11:10 – 11:25 am​ Zoe Zhang, MD – The preferred anatomic distribution of 1172 brain metastases based on brain volume and regional blood flow
11:25 – 11:40 am​ Waleed Brinjikji, MD – Endovascular and surgical treatment of tentorial dural AV fistulas: A meta-analysis
11:40 – 11:55 am​ Daniel Shepherd, MD – Management of unruptured aneurysms in the elderly

Distinguished Lecturer
Gaylan Rockswold, MD
“The Making of a Neurosurgeon”
12:55 pm – 1:40 pm

Scientific Session III: Functional and Miscellaneous / Peripheral Nerve
1:40 pm – 2:55 pm
Moderator: Anthony G. Bottini, MD, Park Nicollet Clinic

1:40 – 1:55 pm​ Desmond Brown, MD, PhD – Role of neurosurgical biopsy in primary CNS blastomycosis
1:55 – 2:10 pm​ Alper Cesmebasi, MD – The snapping medial antebrachial cutaneous nerve
2:10 – 2:25 pm​ David Darrow, MD – Procedural memory and the basal ganglia: Emerging evidence from two experiments
2:25 – 2:40 pm​ William Gibson – Investigating the neural circuitry effect of ventral capsule/ventral striatum DBS for obsessive compulsive disorder with fMRI
2:40 – 2:55 pm​ Carlos Restrepo, MD – The almost invisible perineurioma

Socioeconomic Session / Trauma
3:10 pm – 4:10 pm
Moderator: Matthew Hunt, MD, University of Minnesota, Neurosurgery

3:10 – 3:25 pm​ Douglas Chyatte, MD – Utility of routine serial surveillance head computerized tomography after closed head injury
3:25 – 3:40 pm​ David Daniels, MD – Pediatric motocross racing: How safe is it?
3:40 – 3:55 pm​ Christopher Graffeo, MD – Procedure exposure and confidence (PEAC) survey results – lumbar puncture
3:55 – 4:10 pm​ Ross Puffer, MD – Patient specific factors affecting cost of lumbar spine surgery

The sixth annual academic meeting of the Minnesota Neurosurgical Society began today at The St. Paul Hotel. The weekend includes:

Friday
Welcome Reception, 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm, James J. Hill South Room

Saturday
Breakfast, 7:00 am – 8:00 am, Summit Foyer

Exhibit Tables, 7:00 am – 1:00 pm, Lexington Room

Annual Meeting, 8:00 am – 4:10 pm, Summit Room

Dinner, 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Pazzaluna Restaurant, 360 St. Peter St., St. Paul, MN

Sunday
Sunday Breakfast and Business Meeting, 9:00 am – 10:30 am, James J. Hill South Room

Conference attendance continues to be strong; onsite registration is available.

Dr. Matt Hunt, current Society president, presided over the meeting.

The Program

The Minnesota Neurosurgical Society’s spring meeting was highlighted by a talk presented by Jim Chase and Jasmine Larson from the Minnesota Community Measurement organization about the spine surgery project started as a pilot program two years ago. Data collection for this pilot project is complete for the two procedures under study, lumbar discectomy and lumbar fusion. Analysis of the pilot program data will begin during summer, 2014. Following review and discussion of the initial data, statewide implementation of this quality tracking program for these two common spine surgeries could begin as early as May, 2015. Initially, blinded data from the pilot study and subsequently for the initial stage of the statewide rollout will be available to spine surgeons and stakeholders through a password protected portal. After this data is provided to the public however none of the collected data, organized by clinic site, will be blinded. Data will be shared with providers before publication and an appeals process is planned for suspected aberrant outcome measures. It is also possible that at some point this outcome data may be reported publicly by provider.

Mr. Chase believes that it is likely that this data will be viewed by the public as a means of making provider choices for surgical procedures. The larger use of the data may be to drive value-based purchasing decisions from large referral groups operating under an accountable care organization model.

MNNS Spring Agenda

The Society’s agenda was dominated by planning for the next Minnesota Neurosurgical Society Academic Conference scheduled for Friday, September 26th through Sunday September 28th, 2014. This meeting will be headquartered at the St. Paul Hotel with the annual banquet at Pazzaluna. The Society is holding a block of rooms at the St. Paul Hotel with a room rate of $179/night. The St. Paul Hotel is located across from Rice Park in the heart of St. Paul. The Science Museum, Ordway Theater, Landmark Building and historic St. Paul Library are just steps from the hotel. The immediate area is also rich in great shopping and dining choices. A large, active meeting is anticipated so save the date now. Full registration and event details as well as a call for abstracts will be available soon.

Dr. Ann Parr reviewed Council of State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS) proposed resolutions recently presented at the CSNS national meeting. These proposals include a proposal which originated from this society, authored by Dr. Parr, to study the feasibility of reviewing preauthorization requirements for common neurosurgical procedures from health insurance companies through application of evidence-based analysis. Insurance companies could then be graded for the applicability, quality and feasibility  of these measures. The result of this analysis might then be made available to the public to drive value-based purchasing decisions for consumers when choosing insurance companies.

Dr. Hunt has proposed adding a strategic planning and review session to the Sunday business program planned for the final day of the Academic meeting, Sunday, September 28th. The purpose of this effort would be to assess the organization currently and establish goals as the organization grows.

A lively business meeting concluded the 2013 Academic Meeting in Redwing. Discussion centered around planning for the coming year, the status of the organization and the location of the 2014 Academic Meeting.

Dr. Giuseppe Lanzino has concluded his term as president of the organization and his four year term of leadership in the Minnesota Neurosurgical Society. During this time, the Society has witnessed continuing growth and marked improvement in its academic program. The membership and Executive Committee extend our sincere appreciation for his efforts.

Dr. Matthew Hunt has assumed the responsibilities of President of the organization for the next two years. Dr. Hunt also serves as the Residency Program Director at the University of Minnesota.

The Secretary/Treasurer position is now vacant and interested members are encouraged to consider serving in this capacity The term is two years and usually leads to an additional two year term as the president of the organization.

Tentatively, the seventh annual academic meeting will occur in late September, 2014 in St. Paul, MN. The venue and meeting schedule remain undetermined. Members are invited to submit suggestions or to participate on the planning committee for this event.

The next meeting of the Society will occur in late March or early April, 2014.  Agenda items for that meeting will include instillation of officers, communication with the JCNS at the 2014 AANS meeting and planning for the next academic meeting. Venue and speaker will be announced in early 2014.

Dr. Zoe Zhang was presented with the David Piepgras Award at the annual Society Meeting in Redwing, MN for her presentation, “Canine Model for Aggressive Meningiomas and the Role of Vaccine Immunotherapy.”

Additional awards for Outstanding Presentation were presented to Dr. Ross Puffer (Treatment of Cavernous Sinus Aneurysms with Flow Diversion: Results in 44 patients); Dr. Catherine Miller (Endovascular and Surgical Management of Dural Sinus Malformation), Dr. Dino Terzic (An Improved Method for Generating Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cells from Murine Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells) and Mr. Dominique Higgins (Microenvironmental Regulation of Glioblastoma Stem Cells: A Novel Role for Semaphorin3A).

Cash awards accompanied this recognition: $500 for the Piepgras award; $250 each for the Outstanding Presentation Awards