Point of View

摘要

As President of the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) I am pleased to write a point of view commentary for this article. The SRS and the board of directors have been concerned about financial conflicts of interest and appropriate disclosure of relationships between our members and industry. This study supports the desire of the society that our educational programs be free of bias and undue outside influences, including those that may be perceived by a relationship with industry. We recognize the need for working relationships between surgeons and industry and other external funding sources. These relationships have been one of the major reasons that have advanced health care, particularly spine surgery, in North America in the recent past. Beginning in 1998, the SRS required disclosure of any relationships with industry and potential conflicts of interest with submissions of abstracts for consideration of presentation at both the Annual Meeting and also the International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques. These disclosures were listed with the program booklets of these meetings.