The Michel Benoist and Robert Mulholland yearly European Spine Journal review: a survey of the 'medical' articles in the European Spine Journal, 2011.

摘要

Eight years have now gone by since the editors of ESJ first asked Bob Mulholland and me to take a fresh end-of-the-year look at the articles appearing in the latest volume of the Journal, and to do a critical review of a selection of the papers. From the start it was clearly established that our choice of articles was in no way a ranking, but rather recognition that in addition to their excellence, the selected papers could contribute to presenting new information, provoking discussion and furthering research. Regarding research, in an editorial by Maurits van Tulder, Deputy Editor, the European Spine Journal called attention to and recognized an important domain of scientific research: economic evaluations of surgical and medical interventions, whether new or already existing. In addition to ascertaining effectiveness, it is essential to distinguish between the cost-effective and the non-cost-effective procedures via an appropriate methodology. Economic evaluation is necessary for the appropriate use of the financial resources of our health care systems. Clearly, spine research should comprise health technology assessment-a vast domain of activity.