1. IGASS UK FELLOWSHIP REPORT<br />DR MASATO TANAKA (JAPANESE SPINE FELLOW)<br />I visited the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust Hospitals in the UK from 18th of January 2010 through 12th February 2010 as an IGASS fellowship. The Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust Hospitals are the affiliated hospital of the King’s college. The Guy’s hospital is very famous teaching hospital, which is also well known as the tallest hospital in the world (Fig 1). The St Thomas’ hospital is the one of the oldest and historic hospital in the UK (Fig 2). <br />Fig 1 Fig 2<br /> My mentors were Mr. Lam (Fig 3 left side) and Mr. Lucas (Fig 4), who were not only excellent surgeons but extremely friendly teachers. They were quite helpful and enthusiastically answered all my questions.<br />256794082550<br />Fig 3 Fig 4<br /> Mr. Lam is a good-looking surgeon and also has a good sense of humor. On the other hand, Mr. Lucas is a typical smart English gentleman and as you know he is a chairman of AOSpine in the UK. They welcomed me and treated to lavish dinner more than four times, I must say thank them for their hospitality. My stay in London was at the dormitory in the Guy’s Hospital, which was located in the center of London. This opportunity was the first visit of London for me, I learned a lot of their technique and the UK culture. I was so surprised for the amount of surgery, especially lumbar total disc replacement (TDR) (Fig 5). He also treated the challenging case of severe kyphosis (Fig 6).<br />Fig 5 Fig 6<br />Unfortunately the TDR is not available in Japan at that time, I was doubtful of the good results of TDR until then. However, I figured out that TDR will also become popular in Japan in the near future. The most amazing thing was that Mr. Lam performed the lumbar TDR within one hour. Mr. Ramesh, another spine fellow, was kind enough to show me around the hospital and the typical English pub.<br />During my stay in London, I visited many historical places and museums. I visited the British museum (Fig 7), which is the most famous and impressive museum in the world, more than five times. St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral on Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the seat of the Bishop of London (Fig 8). <br />Fig 7 Fig 8<br />Unfortunately the weather was freezing at that time in London, however the hearts of the surgeons in the UK were very warm. It was a great experience for me and I thank Mr. Lam for all the efforts he put in to make this program. I am so grateful to Mr. Lucas and Dr Ramish as they went to all the efforts to make my stay comfortable in London. I recommend all IGASS members for considering visiting the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust Hospitals in the UK as a spine fellow. I would like thank them again for their hospitality and I will never forget their kindness for the left of my life. <br />