February 2019

Welcome to our EHS Ambassadors!

Dear members of our European Hip Society,

We would be delighted to welcome you as an official “EHS Ambassador”!… If you are known as a scientist getting involved in hip knowledge, you appreciate sharing this knowledge with colleagues from other countries, and you are interested in receiving invitations to participate in National and/or International congresses as a member of the Faculty, then we need you as one of our Ambassadors of the European Hip Society.

EHS is growing favourably in Europe and overseas, and might be regarded so far as one of the absolute references within hip surgery areas. Hence we often receive invitations to send EHS speakers to congresses here and there, which is an awesome opportunity to “bring orthopaedic hip surgeons together”!… However, between “individual” members on the one hand, and EHS Committee members on the other hand (National Representatives, Scientific (SciCom) and Educational (EduCom) Committee members), I hereby propose a specific status is fruitfully created for each colleague who wishes to actively participate in the wider prestige of our Society: introducing our distinguished EHS Ambassadors!

Their role will consist of accepting to present their best works on behalf of EHS, and share hip knowledge with foreign colleagues, as members of the faculty of orthopaedic congresses taking place in Europe or overseas. From the practical viewpoint, when receiving such invitations here and there, EHS would be able to address a list of its official Ambassadors and their favourite topics – hence, one or two speakers could accordingly be officially invited to such commitments.

If you are interested in becoming one of our EHS Ambassadors, simply email our Membership Secretary Samantha (samstokesehs@gmail.com) with your name and address, and the list of lectures you would be happy to give (English language, of course). An official list of selected Ambassadors will then be displayed on the EHS website, and we will be delighted to add your name to the EHS “Hall of Fame”!

By the way, we are setting up actively the programme of our next EHS International 2020 congress in Lille (France), and during this meeting, a specific reward session will be devoted to the winners of the best oral presentation, as well as the best poster… In addition, we will create a specific reward for our Best Ambassador of the Year!… We need YOU standing there on the podium to receive the prize!!!

We look forward to receiving very soon our Ambassador application and thank you very much in advance for supporting efficiently EHS on this matter. More to see, keep in touch and again… best regards on behalf of the entire EHS Board.

Jean-Alain Epinette, MD

President

President’s and Secretary General’s photos © Intercongress GmbH / Tobias Tanzyna

Letter from the Secretary General, Professor Eleftherios Tsiridis

Dear Members, Eleftherios Tsiridis

We are delighted to announce our Visiting Fellowship 2019. If you are under 45, are passionate about hip surgery and live in an EHS member country, then we are now accepting applicants until the end of March 2019.

Despite the cold, January was a busy month. The EHS SciCom, chaired by Prof Luigi Zagra, met in Milan last week for a very successful brainstorming session on the topics for our next EHS (biannual) Congress in Lille, 1-2 October 2020. Thanks to the host himself, as well as the Vice Chairman Prof Theofilos Karachalios, the EHS President Dr Jean-Alain Epinette and of course other members who attended: Profs B Willem Schreurs, Klaus Siebenrock, Thomas Ilchmann, Johan Kärrholm, Manuel Ribas Fernandez and A Mazhar Tokgözoğlu.

I attended the excellent closed meeting of our sister society, the European Knee Society, in Megève, France. Coming up for hip is the Inaugural ICJR Direct Anterior Approach THA Course organised with EHS in Innsbruck, from 31st January – 2nd February, where our Treasurer Martin Thaler plus member Michael Nogler are Course Directors.

Following that in April is the EHS-Co-Organised Stockholm Revision Course, as well as the Kharkiv Conference on the Advanced Treatment of Hip and Knee Pathology in Ukraine. As always, see our calendar of hip meetings for more info.

We wish a warm welcome to our new Full Members Dr Chris Gatzka from Hamburg, Germany and Assoc Prof Fatih Kucukdurmaz from Istanbul, Turkey, as well as new Young Member, Dr Antonio Pedro Robalo Correia from Coimbra, Portugal. Below, we introduce our new Nat Rep for the Irish Republic, Mr Derek Bennett, and extend thanks to Prof Eric Masterson who he replaces. Also, we welcome words from our new International Member Dr Chahine Assi, who gives us an update on hip surgery in Lebanon.

Finally, thank you to everyone who has paid their annual membership dues for 2019 already. For any information on fees, please contact our Membership Secretary Samantha Stokes (samstokesehs@gmail.com).

Best wishes,

EHS Secretary General, Professor Eleftherios Tsiridis

Mr Derek Bennett,
EHS Nat Rep for the Irish Republic

MCh, FRCSI, FRCS Tr & Orth
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon

Derek Bennett is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon specialising in all aspects of primary and revision hip and knee replacement surgery. He is Chairman of the Orthopaedic Department at Mayo University Hospital and Clinical Director of the Peri-operative Division. He is a member and former chairman of the Irish Faculty of the AO Organisation. He is a member of the European Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. He is Vice President of the orthopaedic section of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. He is a board member of and serves as Vice President of the Irish American Orthopaedic Society. He is a board member of the Irish Osteoporosis Society. He is a member of the European Accreditation Committee for Continuing Medical Education. He is the founder and Chairman of the Mayo Arthroplasty Conference, Ireland’s largest joint reconstruction conference which is held every Spring. He is founder of the Irish Chapter of the Operation Walk Charity which performs hip and knee surgeries in third world countries. He is the Irish pioneer for enhanced recovery hip and knee replacement surgery.

Chahine Assi,
EHS International Member from Lebanon

M.D, Ph.D
Orthopaedic Surgeon
EMail: chahassi@yahoo.fr

Dear EHS Members,

As a French Lebanese orthopaedic surgeon, I am proud to join EHS as a new member. In line with the historic relationship between Europe and Lebanon, I hope to contribute in strengthening this relationship in the orthopaedic surgery field.

I graduated from Lyon Medical School (Claude Bernard) and did my residency and fellowship in Montpellier. I moved to Lebanon in 2003 and currently I am the head of the Orthopedic Department at the Lebanese American University Medical Center-Rizk Hospital.

In Lebanon, hip replacement surgery has evolved during the last five years. As per a recent article about total hip arthroplasty in Lebanon[1], cemented and uncemented femoral stems are both used. Recently short stems have been available in the Lebanese market. While standard cups (SC) were routinely used in primary total hip arthroplasties (THA)[more than 2000 THA per year], dual mobility cups (DMC) gained in popularity among Lebanese surgeons and Lebanese patients. Based on this recent paper published by our department, the percentage of THA-DMC implanted in Lebanon shifted from 34.95% in 2013 to 61.3% in 2017, yielding a relative increasing rate of 88% over a 5-year period span. Additionally, the rate increase has been steady and linear from 2013 to 2017.

In many institutions, DMC are used in revision THA as a first choice. More, in revision THA with major acetabular defects, a high number of Lebanese surgeons use the Kerboull cross plate combined to DMC when indicated.

While this trend has been unsurprisingly noted in France, the same evolution is happening in many European countries and in the United States as well. The documented reduced dislocation and mechanical loosening rates following DMC are likely valid factors for such trend. Additionally, extreme hip positions leading to potentially higher risk of dislocation are part of Middle Eastern lifestyle. Thus, oriental sitting positions and prayer rituals could have been other reasons for the increased use of DMC in Lebanese population. Furthermore, due to the long-term relationship between France and Lebanon, a high number of Lebanese orthopaedic surgeons were trained in France and were familiar with the dual mobility concept and advantages.

[1] Ch. Assi, J. Mansour, J. Caton, C. Samaha, K. Yammine ; Total hip arthroplasty: evolution of the use of dual mobility cups in Lebanon; J Med Liban. 2018, 66 (4): 232-237