Building a global spine atlas: Pioneering collaborative data calls to advance spine care.
Inspired by international cancer registration, Spine Atlas is an international epidemiological initiative to visualise spine services and practice variations in spinal care across geographical boundaries.
All units performing spine treatments and all spine registries are invited to participate in the data calls and join the group authorship.
As part of the Spine Atlas Initiative’s first global data call, spine units worldwide contributed structured information on the surgical management of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis (LDS).
The dataset includes more than 1,600 real-world surgeries from 30 countries, allowing—for the first time—a high-resolution look at how treatment choices differ internationally.
The preliminary analyses show substantial variation in the use of decompression alone versus fusion, influenced by factors such as patient age, patterns of spinal stenosis, and local healthcare systems.
You can watch the presentation recording from EUROSPINE 2025 to explore these preliminary findings.
Join our three-part webinar series designed to support contributors and stakeholders participating in the Spine Atlas 2026 data call on DCM. The first session on 9 December 2025 focuses on the ethical foundations of the initiative—including ethics committee applications, informed consent, and the role of country champions. Follow-up sessions on 21 and 28 January 2026 provide a clear introduction to the 2026 data call, outlining its goals, scope, expected impact, accepted data formats, quality requirements, submission workflow, timelines, and contributor recognition. Each webinar includes a live Q&A to ensure participants receive practical, actionable guidance.
If you already have a EUROSPINE account, please log in first and then proceed with your registration.
Access to international epidemiological data
Visualization of spine care services
We discriminate between three following type of participants:
The protocol of the first Spine Atlas Initiative (SAI) has been assessed by the Ethics Committee of Ostschweiz Switzerland (EKOS), BASEC submission no. AO_2024-00111.
EKOS confirmed that there are no ethical objections as long as the data are anonymised and patient consent is obtained as described in the SAI protocol. Within the field of human research, the project does not require prior/further approval from the ethics committee. Data protection must be ensured.
Please consult with your local ethics committee or regulators, if a separate ethical approval is needed for this specific data call. For application templates and decisions on the first data call see below. Please remember to share any additional votes with us by uploading it in your participant section in the data call management platform. Further decisions and a full application template for DCM will be provided in due time.
Will be available in due time.
The Spine Atlas Initiative aims to visualise epidemiology on spine treatments periodically by and across countries, providing a comprehensive view of the global landscape.
I want to be updated on this initiative.
The Initiative is coordinated and funded by EUROSPINE and will be steered by a Steering Committee with Christian Herrmann leading the project as Principal Investigator (PI).
Christian Herrmann, PhD MSc
Principal Investigator Spine Atlas Initiative, Epidemiology
EUROSPINE, The Spine Society of Europe
Sabrina Donzelli, MD MSc
Clinical research
Chair Spine Tango Committee
Research Director National Scoliosis Center, Fairfax, Virginia, US
President of the International Society on Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation
Emin Aghayev, MD MSc
Medical registries
Senior Advisor Spine Tango
Head Research Development at Lindenhofgruppe
Pierre Côté, MS
Epidemiology
Professor Ontario Tech University Research Excellence
Director, Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Ontario, Canada
Florian Ringel, PhD MD
Neurosurgery, Representative from the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (EANS)
Director of the Department of Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Mainz
Chairman of the EANS Spine Section, President elect of the German Spine Society
Jarkko Halme, MD
Orthopaedic surgery, International Spine Registries Group Representative
Finnish Spine Registry
President European Spine Society Advisory Board (EuSSAB)
Sashin Ahuja, MD MSc
Orthopaedic surgery, International Spine Registries Group Representative
British Spine Registry
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
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