10/15/2025
It was a real honor and pleasure to share the stage with the great Dr. Juan Uribe today to close out the 2025 CNS annual meeting (Thank you President Dan Hoh) general session with a collegial and fun debate about calcified Type 4 thoracic herniated discs.
The mutual conclusion was that endoscopy represents a legitimate tool in the treatment of select Type 4 calcified thoracic disc herniations. While high caution still needs to be exercised, as technology and tools (ultrasonic endo bone scalpel?) improve, we will likely be able to rely on endoscopy more and more. Certainly, there will always be a role for the mini-open retro-pleural approach that Juan has pioneered for the more challenging Type 4 subtypes.
The result was close and speaks volumes to the overall turning of the tide. I was honored to receive 42% of the audience’s votes for a topic that many felt was one-sided from the beginning. Thank you again to Juan Uribe for such a fun debate and thank you to Dr. Charlie Sansur for moderating.
I owe a debt of gratitude to my mentors Mike Wang, Paul Holman, Christoph Hofstetter, Paul Houle, Albert Telfeian, Ray Gardocki, and Mark Mahan who have all had an instrumental role in the development of my endoscopic abilities.
Thanks again to the CNS Scientific Program Committee for this incredible opportunity (Edjah Nduom, Khoi Than, Akash Patel)
