SearchBritish neurosurgeons plan hypermobility working group
- 15 February, 2023
- EDS UK news
British and Irish neurosurgeons are holding a one day meeting at the end of March dedicated to hypermobility of the spine in connective tissue disorders. The session is part of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons’ (SBNS) spring meeting, to be held in Cork. We particularly welcome this event as progress on agreeing an approach to treating craniocervical (CCI) and atlantoaxial instability (AAI) in people with Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) in the UK has been very slow.
EDS UK has continued to push for this to stay on NHS England’s agenda since an NHS policy working group we took part in was disbanded (due to lack of evidence of the effectiveness of surgery) in 2020. We have been working with Liverpool-based neurosurgeon Andrew Brodbelt, who was also part of the NHS policy working group and surveyed EDS and HSD patients who had surgery for CCI or AAI outside of the UK. EDS UK members took part in the survey and the results will form part of the discussion in Cork.
The SBNS plans to form a national multidisciplinary working group dedicated to hypermobility of the spine in connective tissue disorders, following the March meeting. We look forward to providing further updates as soon as we can.