Autor: christine.stump@joimax.com

Karlsruhe, 25. April 2012. After March has been the month of international congresses – the ISASS in Barcelona and the EndoVienna in Vienna – April is the month of international workshops for joimax^®.

From April 19th to 20th, 2012 joimax^® held a cadaver workshop in collaboration with the anatomic institute of the University of Heidelberg – a since long established partner. Dr. Carl-Hans Fürstenberg, senior physician at the centre for spinal cord medicine and spine surgery of the University Clinic Heidelberg, talked about anatomy of the lumbar spine, the transforaminal access and suitable indications for less advanced learners. Dr. Menno Iprenburg from the Dutch Rugkliniek Iprenburg demonstrated the transforaminal approach step by step. The true potential of this method was illustrated by Dr. Ralf Wagner from the Ligamenta Spine Center in Frankfurt with the presentation of some of his most complex cases. The theory session was completed by some recommendations on anesthesia and especially on analgosedation by Dr. Alexander Godschalx from Deurze in the Netherlands. CEO and joimax^® founder Wolfgang Ries gave a short outline on future developments in endoscopic spine surgery – a field that belongs to the core competences of joimax^® as one of the market leaders. Guided by experienced instructors, the 12 international participants were able to intensively try and train the minimally invasive joimax^® techniques on three cadavers during the hands-on session.

The second workshop for this month is currently taking place at the MEDucation Medical Training Center, Mülheim/Ruhr in Germany. This workshop is exclusively held for a Chinese group of physicians. The top delegation of 17 spine specialists from China participate at the company’s well known three-step education program. They have visited different German and Dutch clinics for visitations with the experienced joimax^® faculty members. Back to Mülheim/Ruhr they will be able to instantaneously practice the joimax^® access and treatment methods in the cadaver lab. Talks of the joimax^® reference surgeons Dr. Michael Schubert, Munich, and Dr. Guntram Krzok, Friedrichroda, will complete the program. Both Germany-based physicians have a special relation to Chinese customs and culture due to several lecture tours with live surgeries through China. As the third step of the education program own surgeries “at home” guided by the joimax^® faculty team or a joimax^® application specialist can be arranged. “The combination of theory, practice and life surgeries makes this education program truly unique” – that’s what stated one of the Chinese professors.

The next cadaver workshops will take place in May in Salzburg, Austria and in June in Mainz, Germany.

Karlsruhe/Milan, October 17^th, 2011. In its anniversary year joimax^® presents numerous innovations – at EuroSpine Milan for the first time, opening up the series of the big autumn congresses and exhibitions.

For the first time joimax^® presents the now complete product range for endoscopic spinal surgery, showing the novel pain therapy product “Multiuse”. The new Multiuse-Set comprises instruments for endoscopic facet joint denervation or so-called rhizotomy. Subsequent to the iLESSYS^® system for 360° decompression launched in spring 2011, it completes the joimax^® product range that was kicked off with TESSYS^® years ago. Further special blades for the successfully launched Shrill^® shaver-drill resection and ablation system will be introduced to the market also.

At EuroSpine joimax^® will display its complete endoscopic system of the 3rd generation with Vitegra^®3 for the first time. This is the most recent generation of fully integrated documentation systems. With D-Camsource^® HD LED, the first fully integrated HD camera technology with LED light source will be introduced. The joimax^® proprietary radio frequency system Endovapor^® will be presented to the public with new bi-polar probes.

This rapid-fire launching of a variety of new products proves again the leading position of joimax^® in the field of endoscopic spinal surgery. To accompany this, joimax^® offers a lunch workshop on October 20^th, 2011. Congress attendees can register directly at the joimax^® booth. Members of the international joimax^® faculty team will present their experiences when applying the joimax^® instruments, devices and surgery methods.

Further important events right after EuroSpine on the joimax^® agenda are the SMISS in Las Vegas, USA, the NASS in Chicago with a big workshop to be held at the renowned Chicago Back Institute, the MEDICA in Duesseldorf, Germany, the Rome Spine Conference in Italy and finally the DWG annual congress in Hamburg early December, with another lunch symposium and an evening reception celebrating the 10th anniversary of the company.

Karlsruhe, 6^th of October 2011. joimax^® opened doors for the Thai-German Neurosurgery congress participants, under the patronage of the German Academy for Neurosurgery (GANS) and the presidency of the Director of the Clinic for Neurosurgery at the “Städtisches Klinikum” in Karlsruhe, Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. Uwe Spetzger – this year taking place in Karlsruhe, South Germany.

joimax^® organised a lunch symposium in line with the congress, beginning with a company conducted tour through the facility where the participants visited amongst others the departments of the technical staff, research, development and construction – the core competencies and heart of the company. Also interesting were the explanations of the company founder and managing director Wolfgang Ries speaking about the exhibits in the so called internal “museum”, documenting the development of the 10 years company history,
showing prototypes of instruments, endoscopes and devices from the founding years.

The application of TESSYS^® was presented by Prof. Dr. med. Ju?rgen Kiwit, Chief Physician of the Helios Hospital for Neurosurgery in Berlin Buch, in his demonstrative lecture with many pictures and videos. “In my opinion the minimally invasive TESSYS^® method is the future of spine surgery, especially when treating herniated discs and stenosis. The advantages of this gentle method are more than obvious,” he stated.

The full potential of the endoscopic spinal surgery was impressively shown by Wolfgang Ries in his overview presentation: with special instruments it is also suitable for treating e.g. spinal canal stenosis and so makes – besides the transforaminal – the interlaminar access possible also, so that the spinal canal is now accessible from all sides, meaning 360°. The instruments of the next generation with flexible forceps, reamers and endoscopes are already very advanced in the joimax^® development pipeline. An endoscopic assisted spine stabilisation system will open further wide ranges of applications.

A concluding hands-on with the latest joimax^® endoscopic devices on models fully convinced the 45 Thai-German guests of the company’s innovative performance.

Karlsruhe/Heidelberg, 20 June 2011. After the success of the User Meeting in scope of the AANS Annual Scientific Meeting in Denver, Colorado in April, joimax^® invited customers and users of their systems to attend the User Meeting in Heidelberg.

 

The meeting provided an ideal discussion forum for the TESSYS^® users, orthopedic and neurosurgeons with scientific lectures, experience reports and an extensive practical session at the Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology of the Heidelberg University. joimax^® placed the focus on their new products with the shaver/drill system SHRILL^® and the iLESSYS^® instrument kits, that represent the consistent further development of the well-known and proven joimax^® platform for endoscopic spine surgery. Dr. med. Carl Hans Fu?rstenberg, Senior Consultant and Deputy Head of Spinal Cord Injury and Head of Operative Spinal Cord Injury Department of Orthopaedics, Trauma Surgery and Spinal Cord Injury at the University Hospital Heidelberg, was impressed with the, now comprehensive, access technique: „The circle has been literally closed now. With TESSYS^® and iLESSYS^® we have the 360 degrees access to the spinal canal.“ „With the complement of iLESSYS^® for interlaminar access, the complete range of endoscopic access techniques to the spinal canal is now available, providing us a lot more options to help patients efficiently and fast “, stated University Lecturer Dr. Sandro Eustacchio from the Neurosurgery Department of the University Hospital in Graz, Austria, who has been practicing the interlaminar access method for quite a while and demonstrated it to the audience.

Another core theme was the application of the shaver/drill system SHRILL^®, impressively presented by Dr. med. Guntram Krzok, Friedrichroda, who cannot imagine specifically stenosis therapy without this „fantastic instrument“ any more, as he stated. According to his experience, this instrument perfectly completes the indication array of endoscopic spinal surgery.

All participants praised the format of the meeting with being the right mix of theory and practice as well as the ideal forum for an extensive exchange of experiences between the experts. During the relevant congresses and exhibitions of the second half of 2011, joimax^® will present and launch further product novelties starting at EuroSpine in Milan, Italy, and SMISS in Las Vegas in October, NASS in Chicago in November and later at the 6th German Spine Congress to be held in Hamburg in December 2011.

[29.04.2011] – Karlsruhe/Denver, Colorado, April 2011. After a very successful advanced cadaver workshop on Saturday, April 9, 2011, joimax^® held its first US TESSYS® User Meeting on Sunday, April 10th in Denver, Colorado, the site of the Scientific Annual Meeting for AANS, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.

In cooperation with SMISS, Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, joimax^®, for the first time, presented the Parviz Kambin award to Dr. Parviz Kambin. Dr. Kambin is one of the most important pioneers who paved the way for the minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery industry. The award was founded to honor outstanding surgeons in the field of endoscopic spine surgery. Dr. Parviz Kambin identified the unique safe access point to the spinal canal now known as the ‘Kambin triangle.’ Additionally, two experienced spinal surgeons, Dr. Michael Schubert, Munich, Germany and Dr. Menno Iprenburg, Veenhuizen, the Netherlands, were honored with the Parviz Kambin Award, each having performed more than 1.000 procedures of this kind, trained hundreds of doctors using the TESSYS^® technique and each publishing scientific presentations held at renowned international congresses.

Dr. Choll Kim, Executive Director of SMISS and Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of California – San Diego, “We, at SMISS, consider endoscopy of the spine to be a progressive technique with huge potential for the future of minimally invasive spine surgery. Aside from their operative work, we recognize the accomplishments of the recipients, who are large contributors to the advancement of the TESSYS^® procedure on a global level.”

Besides the highlight of the award presentation ceremony, the User Meeting offered a robust program of scientific presentations, reports and discussions with internationally renowned spine specialists in the field of orthopaedic and neuro surgery. Additionally, joimax^® started its celebrating event program 2011: 5 years joimax® Inc. in the USA and 10 years joimax^® GmbH in Germany.

At the same time joimax® Inc., the US subsidiary celebrates its fifth anniversary, exhibits at the AANS and for the first time awards the Parviz Kambin prize in the frame of the second international TESSYS®-User Meeting in Denver, USA.

 

 

Karlsruhe, April 6, 2011. joimax® GmbH holds the 2nd International TESSYS® User Meeting in Denver, USA on April 9th and 10th. At this event, the Karlsruhe based medical device
company starts the celebration activities on the occasion of its 10th anniversary in Germany and its 5th year of existence worldwide – a special occasion in combination with the AANS
Annual Scientific Meeting (American Association of Neurological Surgeons) from April 9th – 13th, 2011.

„We are particularly proud to announce the first ever Parviz Kambin Award“, says Wolfgang Ries, founder and CEO of joimax® GmbH. „With this award we value the neurosurgeon Dr.
Parviz Kambin’s research and work as an important pioneer in the field of minimally invasive spinal surgery. The TESSYS® procedure uses what is known as the Kambin-triangle as its
point of access to the spinal canal.“

The User Meeting offers an optimal platform for TESSYS® users, surgeons, scientists and sales partners to share their experience with the method, further technologies and case
studies as well as learn and test new products and techniques such as the iLESSYS® System, now being launched.

On April 9th, joimax® starts its celebrations with an advanced cadaver workshop which focuses on endoscopic spinal stenosis treatment with TESSYS® Stenosis, the Shrill® Shaver
Drill System and now iLESSYS® method as well. The iLESSYS® method enables the surgeon to fully endoscopically remove transforaminally difficult-to-reach herniated discs and also
stenoses via an interlaminar approach.

The joimax® founder Wolfgang Ries will also give an overview of the history of the company reflecting the past five and ten years of the company and will also provide an outlook on
future products and systems.

The scientific program of the event will include a variety of technical lectures, presentations and discussions on the TESSYS® method including reports on first experiences with the
Shrill® System and iLESSYS®.