The Value of Internationality in the Advancement of Spine Surgery
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* Massimo Balsano

*   international
*   spine surgery

Spinal surgery is constantly and tremendously evolving.

I started my surgical activity in the 1980s when instrumentations were in their beginning and complications were widespread. At that time, only a few scientific societies were entirely devoted to spinal surgery and research, and cultural relations and exchanges were underrepresented. For example, in Europe, no scientific society gathered spine leaders under a single umbrella, only national organizations.

The only recognized spine society in Italy was the Gruppo Italiano Scoliosi, with only orthopedic members. Slowly it became clear that the quality of research and the patient care system could be improved only by joining forces: international societies such as AOSpine and Eurospine were born. Many European surgeons have understood the value of internationality: the Spinal Arthroplasty Society was born first, which later turned into the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS).

ISASS is an excellent spine society that gathers spinal surgeons from around the world. The *International Journal of Spine Surgery* (*IJSS*), the society’s scholarly publication, involves the best surgeons and researchers in the world; it is growing in quality and has reached a very high standard. Nowadays, technology and research have made great strides in minimizing complications and helping patients live better. As an experienced spine surgeon working mainly in Europe, I have the pleasure of writing this editorial, encouraging young European researchers to submit articles to *IJSS*.

In this special issue, we have selected 6 papers from France, Switzerland, and Sweden—very advanced countries where health care is at the highest levels. They are all studies with a different matrix but all exciting and contributing to the advancement of spine surgery.

I, therefore, hope that European researchers will send their studies to *IJSS*; we are a great journal, genuinely international, and worthy of being taken into consideration and respected.

## Footnotes

*    **Funding**  The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

*    **Declaration of Conflicting Interests**  The author reports no conflicts of interest in this work.

*   **Disclosure** Massimo Balsano is the 2022-2023 President of ISASS.

*   This manuscript is generously published free of charge by ISASS, the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery. Copyright © 2022 ISASS. To see more or order reprints or permissions, see [http://ijssurgery.com](http://ijssurgery.com).