Fourth-year Student Doctor Daniel Vickars stepped up to the podium to present his research at the British Association of Spine Surgeons Conference.
This year’s event took place in Bournemouth and featured a range of expert speakers from around the world to discuss the latest research and surgical techniques relating to spinal care.
Daneil was given the opportunity to attend by two surgeons at the Walton Centre and invited to speak about the research he carried out. His presentation, titled ‘Early Outcomes of Fully Endoscopic Lateral Recess Decompression: Is it worth the learning curve?’, aimed to present a new surgical approach (endoscopic) at treating lateral recess stenosis as opposed to the current microsurgical technique.
Within his talk, Daniel focused on the pathology, diagnosis, advantages and risks of this approach, followed by the results of his study. The research results were promising, pointing towards improvement in back pain post-operation and same day mobilisation and no safety concerns with the approach.
Daniel says, “I enjoyed the keynote speakers talk on spinal fusion surgery in patients who suffered traumatic injury; I found this very interesting.
I also enjoyed seeing the new surgical instruments on display and listening to the talks on spinal surgery - especially the endoscopic seminar lead by my supervisor.
I learnt more about the different types of spinal surgery and what treatments are available and the different surgical techniques and approaches.
My personal highlight was being invited to a post-conference dinner with some of the spinal surgeons, which was a great opportunity to meet surgeons from different areas of the UK or different countries.
The event proved both inspiring and informative, reinforcing Daniel’s existing passion and determination to pursue a career in either spinal surgery or plastic surgery.
Discover More
- Look into the support available to Liverpool Student Doctors to both attend and present at conferences, including funding available, on the Academic Conferences webpage (link).