In cooperation with the MEM Research Center for Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Berne, Switzerland, in November 2002 EuroSpine has installed Spine Tango, the international online registry for spinal surgery.

Spine Tango is designed as a distributed server concept consisting of a network of national modules, each module serving as own database. All data are stored on a central database at the University of Berne. Data can be submitted web-based and real-time via 128-bit encryption or on forms read by OMR (optical mark reader) scanners.

National modules operate as filters for registry data. On these modules personalized registry data are saved whereas on the central database data are saved as anonymous registry datasets. Online statistics allow benchmarking on clinic, national and international level.

The Swiss/International, Austrian, German, and North American Spine Tango modules are fully operating by now. Additionally there is a Spanish demo module available. The links shown below take the users to the appropriate web addresses for registration or login. The Swiss/International module serves for all Swiss users, respectively international users who do not have an own national module at their disposal.

Spine Tango Modules

All interested users are invited to contact Dr. Thomas Zweig, MD, Research Fellow of EuroSpine and international Coordinator of Spine Tango at the MEM Research Center. E-mail: thomas.zweig@MEMcenter.unibe.ch

The current Spine Tango forms of version 2006 for Surgery, Staged Surgery, and Follow-up as well as patient self-assessment forms, which are an adaptation of the Deyo Core Measures officially recommended by EuroSpine, can be downloaded here as PDFs in English and German. Validation of other languages is in progress.

Please note that print-outs of PDFs on this website cannot be used for OMR scanning but only for data capture and later online data punching.

For further information on Spine Tango, e. g. supply of documentation forms and details of OMR scanners, please contact Thomas Zweig, MD

Validated Questionnaires

Validated Questionnaires

Validated Questionnaires

Helpful information about the demo access and how to complete the forms correctly can be found here:

Information on philosophy, genesis, and methodology of the Spine Tango documentation system and patient based assessment can be found under:

Deyo RA, Battie M, Beurskens AJHM, Bombardier C, Croft P, Koes B, Malmivaara A, Roland M, Von Korff M, Waddell G. Outcome Measures for Low Back Pain Research: A Proposal for Standardized Use. Spine. 1998;23(18):2003-2013. Röder C, EL-Kerdi A, Grob D, Aebi M. A European Spine Register. Eur Spine J. 2002;11(4):303-307. Röder C, EL-Kerdi A, Eggli S, Aebi M. A centralized total joint replacement registry using web-based technologies. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2004;86:2077-2079. Aebi M, Grob D. SSE Spine Tango: a European Spine Registry promoted by the Spine Society of Europe (SSE). Eur Spine J. 2004;13(8):661-662. Mannion AF, Elfering A, Staerkle R, Junge A, Grob D, Semmer NK, Jacobshagen N, Dvorak J, Boos N. Outcome assessment in low back pain: how low can you go? Eur Spine J. 2005;14(10):1014-1026. Röder C, Chavanne A, Mannion AF, Grob D, Aebi M. SSE Spine Tango - content, workflow, set-up. www.eurospine.org - Spine Tango. Eur Spine J. 2005;14(10):920-924. Röder C, Müller U, Aebi M. The rationale for a spine registry. Eur Spine J. 2006;15(Supp 1):S52-S56. Ferrer M, Pellisé F, Escudero O, Alvarez L, Pont A, Alonso J, Deyo R. Validation of a minimum outcome core set in the evaluation of patients with back pain. Spine. 2006;31(12):1372-1379.

System requirements: PC, MS Windows 2000 or higher, Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher