A common language for evaluating disc degeneration and regeneration: A JOR Spine /ORS Spine Section initiative

Dear Readers,

The purpose of this editorial is to bring to your attention a new effort to develop a common language for how we execute and report on our work.

In order to advance our field, the JOR Spine, in conjunction with the ORS Spine Section, is undertaking a new initiative to develop rigorous classification and scoring systems to define disc degeneration and regeneration from mouse to man. In other fields, particularly in articular cartilage, the community has come together to define specific metrics for the definition and quantification of disease progression and the therapeutic efficacy of regeneration or repair procedures. For example, the “OARSI Score” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20864019) and the “ICRS Score” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20203290) are both now well‐accepted scoring systems for evaluating cartilage erosion and cartilage repair, respectively. These scoring systems are essential for the field as they provide a standard and objective method of reporting and comparison between studies. They likewise support the primary...