The Disc and Degenerative Disc Disease

Luigi Manfrè received his MD in 1989 and completed his specialization in Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology in 1993. He worked as a researcher at Palermo University from 1993 to 2001, and then as an Interventional Neuroradiologist at Cannizzaro Hospital in Catania, Italy. He is currently Chair of Diagnostic and Interventional Spine Surgery at the European Society of Neuroradiology (ESNR) and Director of the Minimal Invasive Spine Therapy department at the Mediterranean Institute of Oncology (IOM) in Catania, Italy. His main interests are percutaneous minimally invasive spine surgery using X-ray and CT-guided techniques with only local anesthesia. He has personally performed more than 3,000 procedures in this field since 1999, including those using third-generation interspinous spacers, the full range of augmentation procedures for the spine (vertebro/kypho/vesselplasty and vertebral stent), posterior trans and intraarticular fusion, radio and cryoablation of tumors and facets, and percutaneous discectomy. Dr. Manfrè was one of the founding members of the European Vertebroplasty Research Team (EVEREST) in 2004 and has won 16 international and national prizes. He won the "best paper of the year" prize from the American Society of Spine Radiology in 2007, 2009, and 2012. He has published more than 200 papers and several books with Springer.

Johan Van Goethem is an Associate Professor of Medical Imaging at Antwerp University, Belgium, Clinical Head at Antwerp University Hospital, and senior staff member at the General Hospital AZ Nikolaas, both in Belgium. He teaches medical imaging techniques for physics, biomedical sciences and medical students. He is President of the European Society of Neuroradiology (2018-2020) and chair of the ESNR-ASNR Liaison Committee. He is an active member of several Societies, including the American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR), the American Society of Spine Radiology (ASSR), the European Society of Radiology and the Belgian Society of Radiology and is an Honorary Member of the Russian Society of Neuroradiology. He is Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto and at the University of British Columbia. Prof. Van Goethem is an active researcher in the field of neuro-imaging, especially spinal imaging. He has authored more than 100 manuscripts in neuroradiology and is a member of the Associate Editorial Board of Spine and reviewer for European Radiology. He is the designated organizer of the prestigious European Course of Neuroradiology in Antwerp for 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.