SICOTSOCIÉTÉ INTERNATIONALE de CHIRURGIE ORTHOPÉDIQUE et de TRAUMATOLOGIETHE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY AND TRAUMATOLOGY

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SICOTSociété Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopédique et de Traumatologie

International Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology w w w. s i c o t . o r g

Awards presented at the Closing Ceremony 2

Editorial by Prof Hinsenkamp 3

Country to country: Slovenia 4

International Council Meeting 7

Havana AIC 2004 in pictures 8

Worldwide news: Interview with Prof Alvarez Cambras 11

In this issueNo. 89 October 2004

An exclusive interview with Prof Alvarez Cambras,Conference President of SICOT/SIROT 2004 Third Annual International Conference

NewsletterNewsletterAn exclusive interview with Prof Alvarez Cambras,Conference President of SICOT/SIROT 2004 Third Annual International Conference

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Awards handed out at the Closing Ceremony ofSICOT/SIROT 2004 Third Annual InternationalConference, Havana

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SICOT Diploma Examination (25-26 September 2004)

ExaminersProf Allende Dr LoehrDr Andersen Prof PittoProf Awais Dr RaveendranProf Bünger Prof SaidProf Cila Prof SedelDr D'Ambrosia Dr SmithDr Duhaime Prof SorbieProf Dr Eulert Prof Dr SzendroïProf Dr Fucs Assoc Prof TrçDr Halawa Dr TregonningProf Dr Herman Mr TusonMr Horan Mr WalkerProf Dr Knahr

Successful candidatesAlejandro Alvarez LopezIbrillo Castillo GarciaErnesto Gonzalez MartinezRolando Hernandez GonzalezIvan MarintschevLivan Pena MarreroLuis Oscar MarreroGuido Salles Bentancourt

Lester Lowe Scholarship Australian SICOT Scholarship

An award of maximum USD 1,000 each has been granted to:Alfredo Pozzo, Bolivia (1)Vikas Trivedi, India (2)

SICOT Oral Presentation Prizes

Lars Carlsson Haisheng LiAntonio Castro Soto del Valle Anders OdenMichael Goebel Ole RahbekAxel Hempfing Eddy Sanchez NodaPetra Krepler

SICOT Poster Prizes SIROT Prizes

István Domán Eddy Sanchez Noda Kaan ErlerPetra Krepler Alexander Schuh Dariush Gouran SavadkoohiHaysell Lopez Diaz Gabor Skaliczki Andrea ManuntaLuis Oscar Marrero William Stetson Theodore MiclauKazuhiko Saeki

An award of AUD 3,000 each has been granted to 3 candidates:Andrew GraydonJacob MunroSalil Pandit

SICOT Trainees Best Paper

Fahad Attar1 2

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Havana AIC 2004,a great success

Editorial

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The SICOT Annual International Conference held in Havana inSeptember 2004 was a great success.The last meeting ofSICOT held in Latin America, a Triennial World Congress, was

in Rio de Janeiro in 1981.Thanks to the efforts of Prof Rodrigo AlvarezCambras, SICOT was able to come back to Latin America, not only thisyear but also in 2006, when the Annual International Conference willbe held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.In total 1,033 participants from 68 countries attended the meeting inHavana. 362 Cuban orthopaedic surgeons were able to participate.Thescientific programme was excellent and focused mainly on externalfixation, paediatric orthopaedics (with a special interest in the paedi-atric spine), bone oncology, the shoulder and sports traumatology.Aworkshop on SICOT Telediagnostic was also conducted.The sessionswere well attended and gave an opportunity for full, relevant discus-sions even when the attraction of the old city and the Cuban beacheswas so great.The SICOT sessions were preceded by a Trainees' Meeting chaired byProf Dr Patricia Fucs.A half day was dedicated to SIROT.The secondSICOT Diploma Examination took place under the supervision ofChief Examiner Tony Hall. More than 400 abstracts were submitted,211 oral presentations were given and 124 posters displayed.Therewere 40 guest and 5 plenary lecturers who gave state of the art talkson a wide variety of hot subjects. It is worth noting that the wholeprocedure of abstract submission, registration and payment was hand-led online.The Conference President, Prof Alvarez Cambras, was deeply involvedin creating the scientific programme and he dedicated his support onthe promotion of the Conference. He organised unforgettable socialevents: the welcome party at the Bucan Restaurant, a farewell party atClub Habana and a wonderful spectacle of Cuban dance and song inthe Karl Marx Theatre.The President's Dinner at the Tropicana Cabaretwas outstanding. All participants really enjoyed these great socialevents - a good demonstration of one of the objectives of SICOT, thesharing of high-level scientific knowledge in a very convivial atmos-phere.

Prof Maurice HinsenkampSecretary General

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Organised clinicaland teaching acti-vity in the field ofsurgery has a longtradition in Ljubl-jana. In the years

1694-1825, the Medical Board forExaminations in Surgery granteda licence for surgical practice to96 candidates.The Healers' andSurgeons' Order for the town ofLjubljana, regulating the practiceof surgery, was founded in 1682.The Ljubljana Guild of Surgeonswas established in 1736, and theMedico-Surgical Lyceum func-tioned from 1782 to 1810.Thefirst Medical Faculty was activefrom 1810 to 1813, while theMedico-Surgical School was in ex-istence from 1813 to 1850.An in-complete Faculty of Medicine wasestablished after World War I, fol-lowed by a complete one afterWorld War II.

The first department of or-thopaedic surgery in Slovenia wasfounded in 1923 by Dr FrantisekMinar, a native Czech. It began asa small unit with only 12 beds. In1945, a chair of orthopaedic sur-gery was established at the Facul-ty of Medicine in Ljubljana and DrBogdan Brecelj became our firstprofessor of orthopaedic surgery.

From a historical point of view,Ljubljana was the place where the

first operation for a herniated in-tervertebral disc was carried out.It was performed by Dr Minar andProf Brecelj in 1933 on a youngwoman with severe back and legpain. Oil myelography revealed a"tumour" mass at the level of L4-L5, which on histological exami-nation proved to be made up offibrous tissue and cartilage-likecells.A few years later, this type of“spinal tumour” was recognisedas intervertebral disc prolapse. In1948, Prof Pohar made surgicaltreatment of sciatic pain a routinepart of the operative programmein Ljubljana. In the fifties, ProfsBrecelj and Debevec designed adomestic system of plates andscrews for osteosynthesis. In the

sixties, Prof Srakar developed anexternal fixation device and spe-cial screws for the treatment ofslipped capital femoral epiphysis.

Prof Brecelj was the leadingorthopaedic surgeon in the for-mer Yugoslavia. In his time, manypatients from all parts of our coun-try and from abroad were treatedat the Department of OrthopaedicSurgery in Ljubljana. Our biggestproblem in those years was con-genital dislocation of the hip(CDH), occurring to 3 to 5 % ofall newborn infants. Prof Breceljintroduced early screening forCDH as well as treatment withspecial splints and surgery. Sincethen, the rate of CDH in new-borns has declined to less thanone case per year. In orthopaedictrauma there are currently twomain problems: complex intraar-ticular fractures in multiply in-jured persons and fractures inelderly patients.

Our Department was amongthe first orthopaedic departmentsoutside Switzerland to adopt theAO method of osteosynthesis anduse the original Swiss internal fix-ation devices. In 1968 we organi-sed the first AO course held inthe former Yugoslavia. Since then,a number of AO courses have beenorganised in Slovenia. We havealso hosted numerous other in-

Orthopaedic Surgery in Slovenia

Bled, jewel of the Julian Alps

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Prof Dr Srecko Herman | National Delegate of Slovenia

Country to

countryseries

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ternational orthopaedic meetingsand congresses,including the TenthSICOT Trainees' Meeting in Por-toroz in 1999.We maintain closecontacts with colleagues in all ourneighbouring countries, and takean active part in regional or-thopaedic meetings. In May 2006the seventh European TraumaCongress will be held in Ljubljana.

The Department of Or-thopaedic Surgery in Ljubljana isthe second largest in the countryand serves as the training base forthe Faculty of Medicine in Ljubl-jana.We have also four other bigorthopaedic departments andfour smaller ones, located in re-gional hospitals.Altogether, thereare 500 hospital beds and 70 ac-tive orthopaedic surgeons.Trau-matology is a separate branch ofsurgery. Currently, 450 patientbeds are set aside for trauma and48 surgeons work in this field.Slovenia has three large traumacentres and eight smaller ones.Specialists training in orthopaedicsurgery take six years and endwith an exam.The Slovenian Soci-ety of Orthopaedic Surgery has85 members.A national congressof orthopaedic surgeons is heldevery three years.

Nearly all the people of Slove-nia are covered under the nation-al health insurance scheme. Prac-

tically all hospitals are owned bythe state, and most doctors workfor the national health service.Everybody can receive the besttreatment available, but the limita-tions imposed make waiting listsyears-long. Since there is a sharprise in diagnostic procedures af-ter traffic accidents, one suspectsthe health-care system is abusedfor insurance claims.

Slovenia is a small country, situ-ated in Central Europe. It formeda part of the former Yugoslaviauntil 1991, when it became an in-dependent state.All distances inthis part of Europe are short.We

have several congress centres.Thethree largest ones are in Ljubl-jana, the capital of Slovenia, Por-toroz, a summer resort on theAdriatic coast, and Bled, a smalltown located on the shore of alake surrounded by mountains.Slovenia has a varied and pictu-resque landscape, characterisedby high mountains (the Alps), vastforests, swiftly flowing rivers.TheKarst region has the famous Pos-tojna cave well known for its marvel-lous stalagmites and stalactites.Karst also has a short stretch ofthe Mediterranean coast. ■

u Country name: Slovenia

u Location: Central Europe -

bordered by Austria (north), Italy (west), Hungary

(east), Croatia (south)

u Population: 1,976,290

u Capital: Ljubljana

u Surface area: 20,273 km2

u Language: Slovene

u Weather: continental climate.

Temperature ranges from - 20°C in January to 35°C in July,

humidity from 40% in winter to 80% in summer.

u Type of government: parliamentary democracy

u No. of doctors: 4,341

u No. of medical schools: 2

u No. of orthopaedic and trauma surgeons: 70 + 48 = 118

u No. of SICOT active members: 24

Ljubljana

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Topic

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National Delegates' BanquetClub Habana, 24 September 2004

Prof Dr Knahr and his daughter and Prof Dr and Ms Vecsei

Dr Oqueli Colindres, Dr Fernandez-Palazzi, DrJacobo Nuñez, Prof Alvarez Cambras, Dr Amow

Prof Herberts and Prof Sorbie

Prof Hinsenkamp, Prof Leong, Prof AlvarezCambras and Prof Dr Fucs

Prof Pitto, Prof Suk and Prof Hinsenkamp

Prof and Ms Leong, Prof Alvarez Cambras andDr Jacobo Nuñez, Dr and Ms D'Ambrosia,Prof Dr Fucs

Mr Hall, Mr Horan, Mr Walker and Dr Fernandez-Palazzi

Prof and Ms Kokubun, Prof Dr and Ms Kotz,Dr and Ms Duhaime and Prof and Ms Said

Prof Gouran Savadkoohi and Dr Duhaime

Dr Andersen, Mr Walker and Prof Said

Prof Hinsenkamp, Prof Suk and Dr Benzakour

Prof Awais and Dr Smith

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International Council Meeting25 September 2004

From left to right - 1st row: Prof Bünger (Denmark),

Dr Benzakour (Morocco), Prof Dr Kotz (Austria), Prof Alvarez

Cambras (Conference President, Cuba), Prof Leong (Hong Kong),

Dr Smith (USA), Dr Al-Othman (Saudi Arabia), Prof Gouran

Savadkoohi (Iran) - 2nd row: Dr Oqueli Colindres (El Salvador),

Dr Duhaime (Canada), Prof Ege (Turkey), Prof Hinsenkamp

(Belgium), Prof Awais (Pakistan), Dr Zaratsyan (Armenia) -

3rd row: Prof Said (Egypt), Prof Kokubun (Japan), Prof Dr Fucs

(Brazil), Dr Raveendran (Malaysia), Dr Fernandez-Palazzi

(Venezuela), Dr Lopez-Duran Stern (Spain) - 4th row:

Dr Tregonning (New Zealand), Prof Suk (Korea),

Dr Lemseffer (Morocco), Dr Gil-Orbezo (Mexico), Dr Santori

(Italy), Prof Raie (Estonia) - 5th row: Prof Haspl (Croatia), Dr

Toma (Austria), Mr Hall (UK), Dr Halawa (Examiner, UK), Mr

Tuson (UK) - 6th row: Prof Dr Herman (Slovenia), Prof Allende

(Argentina), Dr Andersen (Denmark), Mr Walker (UK) - 7th row:

Prof Dr Vecsei (Austria), Dr Zhao Jr (China), Dr Amow (Trinidad

and Tobago), Prof Dr Eulert (Germany), Mr Horan (UK), Prof

Pitto (New Zealand), Prof Herberts (Sweden), Dr Lazarov

(Macedonia), Prof Järvinen (Finland), Prof Dr Knahr (Austria),

Prof Sorbie (Canada), Dr D'Ambrosia (USA).

The podium party. From left to right: Dr Benzakour (Treasurer), Prof Hinsenkamp (Secretary General), Prof Leong (President), Prof Dr Kotz (Immediate PastPresident), Dr Smith (President Elect), Prof Said (First Vice President).

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Havana Third Annual International Conference in

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Exhibition area

One of the exhibitors SICOT booth Poster area

For a full account of the scientific sessions of SICOT/SIROT 2004 Third Annual International Conference by our SICOT Conference Reporters,

see our pages on the SICOT World portal (http://www.sicotworld.org).

The Cultural Gala at Karl Marx Theater, 27 September 2004

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e in pictures

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President's Dinner,Tropicana Cabaret, 28 September 2004

Dr and Ms Benzakour Prof and Ms Sorbie and Dr and Ms Tregonning (background)

Prof and Ms Allende

Dr Fernandez-Palazzi, Prof Hinsenkamp and ProfAwais

Prof and Ms Said Prof Bünger and Ms Elvekjaer and Prof Pitto (background)

Prof Dr and Ms Kotz Left: Prof and Ms Leong, Prof and Ms Allende.Right: Prof Alvarez Cambras and Dr JacoboNuñez and Dr and Ms Benzakour

Prof Alvarez Cambras and Dr Jacobo Nuñez

Dr Smith and Ms Duhaime Prof and Ms Leong Prof Dr and Ms Vecsei and Prof and Ms Said(background)

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Prof Calogero Casuccio died on12 August 2003, at the Ospedaledi Pieve di Cadore. He was bornon 22 October 1909 in Villaga, asmall town in the province of Vi-cenza, where his father workedas a general practitioner. Hemoved to Padua, where he en-rolled at the Faculty of Medicine.

Soon after receiving his degree in 1932, he met VittorioPutti, who convinced him that he should study or-thopaedics at the Rizzoli Institute,where he soon beganhis career.Putti died on 1 November 1940 and his place was takenby Francesco Delitala. Under Prof Delitala's guidance,Casuccio had every opportunity to become familiarwith the innovations that were enriching the practicalmakeup of orthopaedics just after the war. ProfCasuccio was given a teaching post at the University of

Bari in 1948,where he taught surgery of the locomotorapparatus. He won the esteem of the management ofthe new hospital in Bari, who decided to give him hisown ward with about a hundred beds. The new“Clinic” was inaugurated in 1955, and one year later itsdirector,Casuccio,was one of the winners of a full pro-fessorship of orthopaedics at the University of Catania.This appointment was enough to convince the Board ofTrustees at the Faculty of Padua to assign him a postthere to teach surgery of the organs of movement. Injust a few months he became fluent in English and beganto frequent international circles.He earned the honourof admission to SICOT, which he attended first as theItalian representative. He became Vice President andfinally was elected President, in Copenhagen on 10 July1975. Once his role as President of SICOT ended, hedevoted his life to running the institute he had created.

■

Ferdinando Vigliani

ObituaryProfessor Calogero Casuccio (1909-2003)

ObituaryK.T. Dholakia, FRCS, M. Ch. Orth (1920-2004)

SICOT and the OrthopaedicCommunity have lost Dr Kan-darp T. Dholakia who died on 17June 2004 after a prolonged ill-ness.A very active member ofSICOT, he attended regularly allits meetings and congresses as amember and Indian NationalDelegate, contributed constantly

to its affairs and programmes. He was elected Presi-dent from 1978 to 1981.K.T., as he was popularly known, was truly a toweringfigure in International Orthopaedics. In his long practi-ce of nearly six decades he served as an important linkwith the past and proved to be a living history.He star-ted his career in Mumbai, as Surgeon Superintendentof Children's Orthopaedic Hospital and thereafter wasHonorary Professor at G.S. Medical College for nearly20 years. He had a life long association as Chief Sur-geon at the Bombay Hospital where he established a

Post-graduate Department and organised teachingprogrammes.His goal of achieving excellence in teaching, trainingand practice of orthopaedic surgery was achieved by asingle minded commitment to it. He was responsiblefor bringing in the latest orthopaedic technology in itsvarious specialities such as the spine, joint replacement,paediatrics and trauma. In the last decade of his careerhe was the founder President of their societies.Amongst the many honours he received, the mostnotable are the Honorary Fellowship of the RoyalCollege of Surgeons of England, and the Master Sur-geons Award of the International College of Surgeons.He received "Padmashri" - a National Award by thePresident of India - in 1973 and the Dhanwantri Awardin 1982. ■

Dr Prabodh M.DesaiNational Delegate of India

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Worldwidenews

An exclusive interview with ProfRodrigo Alvarez Cambras, ConferencePresident of SICOT/SIROT 2004 ThirdAnnual International Conference

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How did youfare as Confer-ence Presi-dent?I am very happywith the result,all the more so

since we have been working sohard. I would never have thoughtrunning a conference was such adifficult task. But it is worthwhileto work in close collaboration aswe did with SICOT, SIROT andthe local organising committeewhen everything ends well.How did this Presidency im-pact your country?This Conference is very impor-tant to my country because it hasbeen awaited since a long time,not only by me but also all Cubanorthopaedic surgeons. It is thefirst time that a conference of thatlevel is taking place in CentralAmerica and we are proud thatCuba has been chosen. From ascientific point of view it is ofmeaning because we are receivinggreat professors who give excel-lent lectures. But also the oppor-tunity is given to Cuban or-thopaedists to show what theycan do.What is the role of SICOT inyour country?All Cubans would like to becomemembers of SICOT and that iswhy we will take the opportunity

of this Conference to increasethe SICOT Cuban membership.But as the economic situation ofthe country is difficult the FrankPais International OrthopaedicComplex and the Cuban Or-thopaedic Society, of which I amPresident, pay the SICOT mem-bership.What can your country bringto SICOT?First of all our warmth.Then ourexpertise, among others in exter-nal fixators, colloid of bone mar-row, banks of tissues, sports trau-matology, etc.We are very happyto welcome members of SICOTto our country and we were proudto offer the gala show at the KarlMarx Theater. I have asked thebest artists if they would agree topresent a show and they did, freeof charge. And even the Karl MarxTheater offered the places free ofcharge. I think we have offeredsomething very special to SICOT.What is the effect of the po-litical system of your countryon the health system?Our country is not a rich countrybut nor is it a poor one. Every-body goes to school, is well-dressed, has a healthy diet.Thereis no starvation in Cuba.And thepublic health is very good.The re-sult of the impact of the socialistsystem on health is that healthcare is free for 100% of the popu-

lation.As a result all diseases thatyou normally encounter in devel-oping countries have been eradi-cated (infectious and respiratorydiseases, dysentery, etc.) and wenow suffer from the same diseasesas in developed countries (can-cers, vascular and cardio-vasculardiseases). Furthermore weachieved a very low infant mortali-ty rate of 6.2 ‰, the third rate inthe world.And life expectancy isnow 80 years for women and 78years for men.As a Cuban orthopaedistwhat is the advantage for youof belonging to SICOT?SICOT is the representative ofworld orthopaedics and repre-sents the gathering of fraternityamong orthopaedists.Today thereare a lot of specialised orthopaedicsocieties and even if it is impor-tant to belong to these societies,there is also a need for global so-cieties gathering orthopaediststhroughout the world, and this iswhat SICOT does.What do you think you havecontributed to your countryas a SICOT National Delegate?First of all my country and SICOTare now in touch. Secondly theSICOT/SIROT Third Annual Inter-national Conference could takeplace in Cuba.Thirdly Cuban mem-bers of SICOT are allowed to re-ceive the Journal. ■

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Editorial DepartmentEditorial Secretary: Prof Rocco P. PittoExternal Affairs: Nathalie Pondeville

Rue Washington 40-b.9, 1050 Brussels, BelgiumPhone : + 32 2 648 68 23 - Fax : + 32 2 649 86 01 E-mail : edsecr@sicot.org - Website : http://www.sicot.org

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How to join SICOT? Complete the application form:http://www.sicot.org/?page=application

SICOT main topicsq Spinal deformities

and diseases

q Sports medicine and arthroscopy

q Trauma

q Paediatric orthopaedics

q Shoulder and elbow disorders

qWrist and hand disorders

q Musculoskeletal tumours and infections

q Current trends in orthopaedics

q Hip disorders

q Knee disorders

SIROT main topicsq Research on cartilage

q Research on biomaterials

q Tissue engineering

q Research on minimallyinvasive surgery

q New rehabilitationtools

q Osteoporotic fracturetreatment and prevention

q Spine research

XXIII World Congress Abstract deadline: 10 January 20052-9 September 2005 - Istanbul, Turkey

SICOT / SIROT 2005SICOT / SIROT 2005XXIII World Congress

Congress secretariat: SICOT aisblRue Washington 40 - b.9 • 1050 Brussels, Belgium

Fax : + 32 2 649 86 01• E-mail : info@istanbul.sicot.org • Website : http://www.sicot.org

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