This year’s British Elbow and Shoulder Society (BESS) congress witnessed a novel form of medical education as the Arthrex Mobile Surgical Skills Lab arrived in Nottingham. Delegates at BESS were invited to attend the Arthrex workshop on the opening evening of BESS on Wednesday 25 June. Over 120 BESS delegates accepted the invitation and packed into an overflowing Conference Suite One at the East Midlands Conference Centre. The MobileLab parked immediately adjacent to the Conference Suite allowing live cadaveric demonstrations of 360 degree stabilisation surgery to be shown in crystal clear definition, utilising Arthrex’s state of the art SynergyHD3 arthroscopic camera systems.
The event was hosted by Mr Graham Tytherleigh-Strong (Cambridge) and featured Mr Peter Brownson (Liverpool) and Mr Duncan Tennent (London). Peter Brownson began proceedings by expertly performing an anterior stabilisation whilst taking questions from the audience during the procedure. This interactive dialogue provided delegates with a unique opportunity to both learn and question the surgical approach of an esteemed colleague. In one of a number of lighter moments Graham Tytherleigh-Strong questioned Peter Brownson as to whether there was a bite mark on the operative shoulder, a humorous reference to the now infamous incident involving a former player of Mr Brownson’s beloved Liverpool FC. Once Mr Brownson had completed the anterior repair utilising PushLock® anchors and LabralTapeTM he walked the short five-metre distance into the conference room to take both further questions and generous applause from the audience.
Duncan Tennent then demonstrated a novel technique for challenging posterior stabilisation surgery. There was an audible buzz in the audience as Mr Tennent demonstrated a percutaneous technique for passing a mattress stitch using a straight Micro SutureLassoTM and FiberStickTM in one simple step without the SutureLasso leaving the joint. Mr Tennent then completed the percutaneous repair with a 2.9 BioComposite PushLock anchor, leaving the audience to admire a beautifully repaired posterior labrum with no knot stack or visible suture inside the joint. Mr Tennent then joined Mr Brownson and Mr Tytherleigh-Strong to close the session by taking further questions on all aspects of stabilisation surgery from the surgeon audience. During the ensuing questions and discussion, Mr Duncan Learmonth (Birmingham Priory Hospital) commented: “The Arthrex Mobile lab at the BESS meeting provided an excellent additional educational section to the meeting. The IT setup was excellent and worked perfectly. The opportunity to see new and established athroscopic procedures carried out by experienced shoulder surgeons was inspiring and the ability to follow these demonstrations with an immediate Q and A session made for an excellent discussion forum.” The MobileLab was open for all delegates for the rest of the BESS congress to select from a menu of innovative procedures to try hands on.
The MobileLab vision is to make medical education as accessible and convenient as possible to surgeons and healthcare practitioners involved in the least invasive orthopaedic and arthroscopic surgery. Arthrex received a Special Commendation for Innovation at last October’s British Orthopaedic Association meeting in Birmingham for the introduction of this dynamic form of medical education. Arthrex now have several MobileLabs, with more planned, providing medical education throughout Europe and beyond. Each lab is equipped with Arthrex’s ever-expanding 7,000+ innovative product portfolio including SynergyHD3 Camera Systems. Alongside appearances at major orthopaedic congresses the MobileLabs have travelled the length and breadth of the UK visiting both private and public hospitals and providing surgical skills training to theatre staff, theatre managers, specialist registrars, fellows and consultants alike, helping them to treat their patients better.
Contact your local representative or Teri Blythe at Arthrex Ltd to learn more. Call +44 (0)1142 329180 or visit www.arthrex.com
