Lessons learned from a life

Abstract

When I learned the first lesson in my “spine life,” the world of spinal surgery was black and white. For a given pathology, there were one or two treatment options. Today we are facing a wide variation of conservative and surgical treatment modalities. This makes the life of a spine surgeon easier and harder. It is easier to choose among different options, but it is more difficult to determine which treatment option is the best in each individual case. But this is what makes spinal surgery so fascinating and what will keep us busy scientifically and clinically for the coming years.