AO Spine Knowledge Forum Tumor

Leading the way in spine oncology research


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

Ilya Laufer
Chairperson
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
New York, NY, USA

Laurence Rhines
Past-Chairperson
The University of Texas MD Anderson
Cancer Center Houston, TX, USA

Arjun Sahgal
Past-Chairperson
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center
Toronto, ON, Canada

Dea Nicolas

Nicolas Dea
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, Canada

AO Spine Alessandro Gasbarrini

Alessandro Gasbarrini
IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli
Bologna, Italy

Áron Lazáry
National Center for Spinal Disorders
Budapest, Hungary

Jeremy Reynolds
Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre
Oxford, UK

Verlaan Jorrit Jan

Jorrit-Jan Verlaan
UMC Utrecht
Utrecht, The Netherlands

KF Tumor Advisory Board

Chetan Bettegowda
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD, USA

Stefano Boriani
IRCCS
Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi
Milan, Italy

Charles Fisher

Charles Fisher
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Ziya Gokaslan
The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Providence, RI, USA

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

Knowledge Forum Manager

Marie-Laure Vial

Project Manager

Other Knowledge Forums

AO Spine KF Deformity

AO Spine KF Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)

AO Spine KF Degenerative

AO Spine KF Trauma and Infection

Charles Fisher

“To truly advance care for spine oncology patients, we have developed an international network of spine oncology centers committed to collaborative prospective multicenter research.” 

Charles Fisher, AO Spine Research Commission Chairperson