The Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery Announces Agreement With joimax® To Support Creation and Launch of SMISS Registry for Endoscopic Spine Surgery

San Diego, Oct. 20, 2011 – The Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (SMISS), San Diego, CA and joimax^®, Karlsruhe, Germany announced today the signing of an agreement to support the SMISS Registry as a founding sponsor for creation and launch of the SMISS Spine Registry for Minimally Invasive Endoscopic Spine Surgery. The SMISS Spine Registry was designed to collect valuable data concerning decreased hospitalization, recovery times, and complication rates of endoscopic spine procedures, as well as increased quality of life measures, subject satisfaction, and cost effectiveness. In today’s rapidly changing healthcare climate, it is imperative to ensure the ongoing availability of this data regarding efficiencies of care and quality of outcomes.

SMISS has assembled an outstanding research team with extensive experience within the spine field. The Principal Investigator for the Registry, Choll Kim, M. D., Ph.D, Executive Director and Board of Directors Member of SMISS states, “We are excited to partner with joimax^® in the launch of the SMISS Registry, a project that will produce the relevant data collection and management necessary for the continued growth of minimally invasive endoscopic spine surgery. The Society will lead the way in the collection of minimally invasive spine surgery outcomes and cost data. SMISS is positioned to become the model for successful spine research.”

“joimax^® and SMISS are ideal partners to begin this important project in spinal endoscopy. The data collected will assist both parties in furthering the development of minimally invasive endoscopic spinal surgery, which is a great benefit to patients around the world,” said Wolfgang Ries, CEO and Founder of joimax. “We are pleased to provide funding for this important project.”

This three year, multi-centered project will commence patient enrollment in late 2011. The Registry is expected to enroll a minimum of 250 patients during the first phase of the project.