• About the society
• Greeting from the President
• Outline
• Mission
• Secretariat
• Scientific Meeting
• Next 2019
• Members
• Executive Board Members

Greeting from the President

Phyo Kim    June 2013

It is a great honor to be elected president of the prestigious Neurospinal Society of Japan (former Japanese Society of Spinal Surgery).  I feel humbled by the huge responsibility.  Under the leadership of former president Dr. Junya Hanakita, the society obtained legal status of a general incorporated association and joined the Japanese Medical Specialty Board.  I assume my mission is to strengthen the stability of our society, following the path of Dr. Hanakita’s leadership, and to promote spinal surgery in the context of neurosurgery.
In Japan, neurosurgery is called ”Nogeka” or ”Noshinkeigeka”, which directly translate as “brain surgery” or ”cerebroneural surgery”. Such heavy emphasis on “brain” is specific to Japan.  Neurosurgery is the medical specialty that originated from treating surgically amenable neurological disease; therefore, there were many pioneers who had neurology in their background. In order to understand mechanisms of neurological symptoms, the entire nervous system including brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves should be taken into account.  Historically, neurosurgeons have contributed to elucidation of mechanisms of neurological symptoms and development of treatment. Contributions by neurosurgeons in the discovery of lumbar disk herniation as a cause of sciatica and cauda equine syndrome exemplify this.  Dr. Love, who developed extradural lumbar discectomy surgery, which is the gold standard approach even now, was a neurosurgeon, and Dr. Cloward, who developed anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, was a neurosurgeon as well.
In the majority of countries outside of Japan, disease of the spine and spinal cord is one of the major subfields of neurosurgery, and neurosurgeons play leading roles in the treatment of it.  For example, in the United States, 80% of surgical cases of neurosurgery are spine and spinal cord disease, and according to Medicare statistics, more than half of spine and spinal cord surgeries are performed by neurosurgeons.  In some European countries, such tendencies are more prominent.
In the Japanese neurosurgical communities, we have been growing out of the heavy emphasis on brain disease such as cerebrovascular disease, tumor, and head injury, returning to traditional comprehensive neurosurgery in the past 20 years.  Functional neurosurgery, epilepsy surgery, and spinal surgery are on the rise.  It is of paramount importance to diagnose the entire nervous system, not only for building systematic understanding of neurological disease, but also for benefitting patients by providing accurate diagnosis. 
Meticulous neurosurgical techniques nurtured by microscopic neurosurgery are highly trusted to produce better surgical outcomes.  I am convinced neurosurgeons in Japan can contribute to the health and welfare of the general public by engaging more in surgery of the spine and spinal cord.
It is also rewarding to the neurosurgical community to be able to help patients recover function by our excellent surgical skills.  I believe it is my duty to develop a better educational system of spinal surgery for the next generation of young neurosurgeons.  In order to realize this task, I am determined and looking forward to working together with members of the Neurospinal Society of Japan and Japan Neurosurgical Society.

Outline

This society was established by neurosurgeons who were engaged in the surgical treatment of the spine, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves in Showa 61 (1986) in order to advance the field and to improve our knowledge and skills. The society is approved as a satellite society of the Japan Neurosurgical Society.  The total number of members is more than 1,200, and 41 hospitals across Japan are registered as certified training facilities in Heisei 28 (2016).
The main activities of the society include holding annual academic meetings, management of the board certification system for spinal surgeons and spinal surgeon-instructors, publishing academic journals, and delivering education to the general public through the society’s website and lectures that are open to the public. Through these efforts, we are striving to improve our knowledge and skills so we can contribute to the health and welfare of patients.

Mission

The goal of this society is to contribute to the health and welfare of the general public by promoting the advancement of neurosurgery through academic communication among members about disease of the spine, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves.

History

Nihon Sekizuigeka Kenkyukai (Japanese Society of Spinal Surgery) was established in Showa 61 (1986) by Prof. Akira Hakuba of Osaka Shiritsu University to meet the demand for a society to discuss disease of the spine and spinal cord in order to make spinal surgery a larger subspecialty of neurosurgery in Japan.  Founding members comprised Akira Hakuba, Hiroshi Abe, Satoru Kadoya, Chikao Nagashima, Hiroshi Nakagawa, Masamichi Tomonaga, and Kenzo Yada.  The society changed its name to Nihon Sekizui Gekagakkai in Heisei 13 (2001).  The Board of Directors system was introduced in Heisei 17 (2005).  The society obtained legal status of a general incorporated association in Heisei 23 (2011).

Secretariat

• Neurospinal Society of Japan Secretariat
  c/o Convex Inc.​
• Toranomon Waiko Bldg., 5-12-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001 Japan
  TEL: +81-3-5425-1600 FAX: +81-3-5425-1605
  E-mail： nsj@convex.co.jp 

Next 2019

• The 34th Annual Meeting of the Neurospinal Society of Japan
  (The Former Japanese Society of Spinal Surgery)
• Meeting date：June 20 (Thu) - 22 (Sat), 2019
• President：Izumi Koyanagi , M.D., Ph.D.
  Department of Neurosurgery Hokkaido Neurosurgical Memorial Hospital
• Site：Royton Sapporo
  Kita 1 Nishi 11-chome, Hokkaido medium central,
  Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0001, JAPAN
• URL：https://www.daiwaresort.jp/royton/index.html

Members: 1281
Honorary Members: 14
 
Certified Spine Surgeons: 444
Certified Spine Surgeon-Instructors: 114 (6 instructors emeritus)
Certified Training Facilities: 48
 
(Numbers as of June 1, 2018)

Executive Board Members

President
  Phyo Kim   Department of Neurologic Surgery, Dokkyo Medical University
  Hajime Arai   Department of Neurosurgery, Juntendo University
  Kazunori Arita  Department of Neurosurgery, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medicine
  Shinji Imae   Imae Clinic
  Kenji Ohata   Department of Neurosurgery, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine
  Toshiki Kawamoto   Department of Neurosurgery, Tokyo Teishin Hospital
  Kyongsong Kim   Department of Neurosurgery, Chiba Hokuso Hospital, Nippon Medical School
  Eiji Kohmura   Department of Neurosurgery, Kobe University School of Medicine
  Izumi Koyanagi   Hokkaido Neurosurgical Memorial Hospital
  Manabu Sasaki   Department of Neurosurgery and Spine Surgery, Iseikai Hospital
  Nobuyuki Shimokawa   Department of Neurosurgery, Tsukazaki Hospital
  Taku Sugawara   Department of Spinal Surgery, Research Institute for Brain and Blood Vessels Akita
  Shinsuke Suzuki  Department of Neurosurgery, Sendai Medical Center
  Toshitaka Seki  Department of Neurosurgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine
  Toshiyuki Takahashi  Spinal Disorders Center, Fujieda Heisei Memorial Hospital
  Masakazu Takayasu  Department of Neurosurgery, Aichi Medical Hospital
  Satoshi Tani  Department of Neurosurgery, Jikei University School of Medicine
  Makoto Taniguchi   Department of Neurosurgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Neurological Hospital
  Teiji Tominaga  Department of Neurosurgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine
  Hiroyuki Nakase   Department of Neurosurgery, Nara Medical University School of Medicine
  Masahito Hara  Department of Neurosurgery, Inazawa Municipal Hospital
  Minoru Hoshimaru   Shin-ai Spine Center
  Kazutoshi Hida   Department of Neurosurgery, Sapporo Azabu Neurosurgical Hospital
  Akira Matsumura   Department of Neurosurgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba
  Junichi Mizuno   Center for Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery, Shin-Yurigaoka General Hospital
  Masaki Mizuno   Department of Neurosurgery, Mie University School of Medicine
  Yasuyuki Miyoshi   Department of Neurosurgery, Kawasaki Medical University Medical Center
  Nobuhito Morota   Department of Neurosurgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Children's Medical Center
  Muneyoshi Yasuda   Department of Neurological Surgery, Ichinomiya-Nishi Hospital
  Satoshi Yamaguchi   Department of Neurosurgery, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

Auditor
  Hideaki Iizuka   Department of Neurosurgery, Kanazawa Medical University
  Yukoh Ohara   Department of Spinal Surgery, Shin-Yurigaoka General Hospital