Editorial Comment: 2014 Musculoskeletal Tumor Society.

Abstract

A fundamental mission of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) is to promote the acquisition and sharing of knowledge in the field of orthopaedic oncology. This matches the goal of Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research and The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons to disseminate new and important orthopaedic knowledge. CORR, the official Journal of the MSTS since 1997 (and informally for 20 years before that), has effectively met these goals and has been the leading publisher of articles in orthopaedic oncology [4]. Here, I would like to emphasize the ongoing importance of publishing the MSTS Proceedings of the best papers of the preceding annual meeting. The annual meeting of the MSTS continues to be the keystone of intellectual and educational efforts for the Society members. Since its inception, new learned societies have proliferated in this academic space such as the International Society of Limb Salvage (ISOLS), European Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (EMSOS), and the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS), as well as specialty groups such as the Children’s Oncology Group, and Society of Surgical Oncology. Focused study groups such as the Sacral Study Group have arisen to address specific questions. Collaborations to share data also exist, but I emphasize that the mere sharing of data does not make these collaborations multicenter trials. All of the newer groups and associations, to one degree or another, compete with the MSTS for preeminence. Conjoined meetings with ISOLS (for which CORR is also the official journal), EMSOS, and CTOS have been among the most productive in recent years, enticing the highest quality interaction of participants and publication. MSTS continues to hold an effective independent role in the academic world, in spite of taking on a wide range of educational roles in the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. MSTS Specialty Day programs have taken on the tenor of instructional courses, informational sessions, subject reviews, and entertaining debates, but rarely present original research work. The scholastic mission of the MSTS mainly is accomplished at the Annual Meeting where our best original research is presented. So how are we doing in this endeavor, and how did it go in 2014? There were 161 abstracts submitted for the 2014 meeting. These resulted in 30 Symposium: 2014 Musculoskeletal Tumor Society Published online: 12 November 2015 The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons1 2015