Orthopaedic professionals from across the world gathered in Berlin at the end of March to discuss osteoarthritis and possible solutions for the management of this degenerative knee disease
The first Spring Training Course organised by the European Knee Society (EKS) was held from 31 March to 1 April 2016 in Berlin.
With a central theme focusing on ‘Principles in management of knee osteoarthritis, the course attracted approximately 90 delegates, both experts and young orthopaedic surgeons, from across Europe, some Arabic countries and Australia.
The programme of the meeting covered important topics relating to the degenerative knee disease and possible solutions of management. Over two days, six scientific sessions took place, alongside breakout practical sessions and Video Pearls presentations.
The first session discussed ‘pre-TKA solutions (osteotomy/UKA)’, and delegates were given the opportunity to learn and practise how to plan an osteotomy according to Miniacii. This was followed by discussion of the principles and indications of a TKA.
The second day began with a session to discuss technique in primary TKA, and answered many interesting technical questions such as, for example, how to manage a varus/valgus knee or a fixed flexion deformity. After that, delegates were able to attend video sessions addressing the management of varus/valgus/flexion/contracture/patella issues. The fourth session included talks about ‘hot topics’ such as one-day-surgery, preservation of ACL/PCL and kinematic alignment, as well as the results of the European Consensus Group (ECG) addressing preoperative management and actual recommendations. The discussion that followed was really ‘hot’ and there were many exchanges of opinion among the attending experts.
The fifth session focused on ‘painful TKA’, and included talks covering infection, loosening and bone loss, instability, malpositioning, the stiff knee, as well as a discussion about ‘a systemic algorithm for painful UKA/TKA’. The meeting was brought to a close with a session where speakers presented their ‘worst case’; this led to lively interactions with the audience as the causes of failures and lessons learned were discussed.
The workshops held during the lunch breaks addressed a number of interesting topics – including ‘The future of orthopedics’ (Stryker), ‘Final 20 per cent # Attune Knee System’ (DePuy Synthes), ‘Evidence and evolution in knee arthroplasty’ (Smith & Nephew) and ‘Optimizing partial knee outcomes’ (Zimmer Biomet) – while the meeting dinner, to which all delegates were invited, led to a good many engaging discussions between the young surgeons and the key experts present.
After the final session, professors Perka and Pfitzner from Berlin ended the meeting with a farewell speech.
In summary, the meeting was very successful and many of the delegates, especially the young surgeons, expressed their pleasure at attending and said how much they had learned from the experts. The EKS will continue to run instructional courses of this nature in the future.
For more details and further information, please visit http://eks.congresses.medicongress.com
