The Spine Atlas Initiative (SAI)

Making Spine Treatment Comparable Across Countries

Spine treatment strategies vary across healthcare systems, training traditions, reimbursement environments, and regulatory frameworks. Yet internationally harmonised data describing these variations have historically been limited.

The Spine Atlas Initiative, coordinated and funded by EUROSPINE, provides a structured framework for recurring international data calls. Each data call focuses on a defined pathology, applies a harmonised core dataset, and analyses pooled international data to visualise treatment strategies across countries.

SAI does not assess quality or rank institutions. Its purpose is to establish transparency and comparability of treatment strategies worldwide.

Each Spine Atlas data call follows a consistent structure designed to enable international comparison while keeping participation low-burden for contributors.

Contributors receive group authorship in publications, and results are disseminated through scientific journals, conferences, and Spine Atlas reports.

Spine Atlas aims to build the first structured international reference for spine treatment epidemiology.

The methodological approach of the Spine Atlas Initiative is described in Herrmann et al., Brain & Spine, 2025.

The initiative is based on:

• International cross-sectional study design
• Harmonised variable definitions
• Anonymised data submission
• Defined governance and authorship structures

Spine Atlas is designed as a recurring international research framework based on thematic data calls.

Expanding the number of participating countries and contributors remains a key priority for the coming years.

The initiative is coordinated by EUROSPINE.

Principal Investigator
Christian Herrmann, PhD MSc

Steering Committee

Former Members