Group photo of the 10th Spine Health Society Annual Scientific Meeting

A conference was convened that spotlighted spinal ligament reconstruction, the latest treatment for spinal stenosis, proposing new standards and a global direction.

Wooridul Hospital, a spine-specialty hospital (Chairman Lee Sang-Ho), successfully held the ‘10th Spine Health Society Annual Scientific Meeting (President Shin Sang-Ha)’ on Saturday, December 6, at the 3rd-floor conference rooms of COEX, with medical staff from its nationwide network and society officials in attendance.

Under the theme of ‘Safe treatment for degenerative spinal stenosis,’ this meeting focused on the theoretical foundation, development history, surgical techniques, and clinical outcomes of spinal ligament reconstruction. Shin Sang-Ha, Director of Wooridul Hospital Cheongdam, and Park Chan-Hong, Director of Wooridul Hospital Daegu, as well as Baek Un-Gi, Director of Wooridul Hospital Gimpo Airport. With Hwang Byung-Uk, Director of Wooridul Hospital Busan, serving as session chairs, 18 scholarly reports by clinicians from the nationwide Wooridul Hospital network fueled lively debate.

Spinal ligament reconstruction removes the hypertrophied ligamentum flavum and stabilizes the space between unstable vertebrae by tying it with an artificial ligament, without cutting bone or joints and without needing to remove the disc. Through a midline approach, ligament reconstruction can be performed via a minimal skin incision of about 3~5 cm without damaging normal tissue, with little bleeding and a low risk of infection. Recovery is rapid, with patients able to walk about three hours after surgery.

In particular, the newly developed ‘SHLee ligament’ last year is approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety; it is a polyethylene material strong enough to withstand 800 newtons (N), does not break, and is safe for the human body. About six weeks after lumbar implantation, it fully integrates into the body and can be used permanently like the patient’s own ligament.

Shin Sang-Ha, a neurosurgeon at Wooridul Hospital Cheongdam and president of the Spine Health Society, said, “Through a new surgical process that treats spinal stenosis, which plagues patients in their 70s and older, without extensive incisions and without transfusions, and that very flexibly stabilizes an unstable spine, many patients are regaining independent daily lives, standing, walking, and even running again. We have already verified the excellent therapeutic effects of the SHLee ligament and spinal ligament reconstruction through numerous papers and scholarly materials.”라며, “We are now devoting our utmost efforts, together with the global medical publisher Springer, to authoring an international medical textbook that synthesizes clinical experience and technical know-how on ligament reconstruction.”라고 말했다.

In just the past year, more than 1,200 spinal ligament reconstruction procedures have been performed, and as clinical experience demonstrates, global interest in their outstanding therapeutic effects is growing. Efforts are underway to share and transfer the new technology through lectures at international societies, export agreements for the artificial ligament, and free surgical support for overseas patients.

Wooridul Hospital Chairman Lee Sang-Ho, founder of the Spine Health Society, said in a congratulatory address, “This is not merely a technical advance but a paradigm shift that restores the dignity of elderly patients, which has often been overlooked in modern spine surgery. We will devote ourselves to furthering technological progress with even greater effort.”

Program of the 10th Spine Health Society Fall Scientific Meeting