June 2020

Dear EHS Members & Friends, 

“Happy Days”!…

It was less than 6 months ago… It looked like it was a century ago. No virus, no masks in the street, no death in the intensive care unit of our hospitals… We could operate our hip prostheses at the request of our patients, not according to the needs of confinement…

And that is the Covid-19. And here are the caregivers on the front line, and the orthopedic surgeons out of action, with other priorities than hip primaries for treating our patients…

All joined, all answered the call… To date it is difficult to say that we have won the war, but at least this first battle is won…

At EHS, in partnership with the EKA, a vast work of analysis was undertaken under the direction of Nanne Kort (Netherlands) to define the priorities of this return to the operating theaters of our patients, and to consider the deadlines for programming our primary hip replacements. The invaluable involvement of Luigi Zagra, Martin Thaler and Theofilos Karachalios for the development of this consensus on behalf of the EHS, soon to be published in the Literature, must be highlighted.

At the same time, a vast survey in Europe and beyond has been launched to gather the opinions of each of you. Each EHS member received the announcement by email of this study “Resuming Elective Hip and Knee Replacement in the Setting of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A consensus among hip and knee surgeons promoted by The European Hip Society and European Knee Associates”… The deadline is set for June 3rd at the very latest. If you have not participated yet, do it today via this link: the EHS / EKA survey!

“Fluctuat nec mergitur”… The caregivers have suffered enormously, but they are still standing… Our patients will soon be able to find their way back to our operating theaters. Summer is coming, and we are going to find again our happy days!!!

Kindest regards on behalf of the entire EHS Board

Jean-Alain Epinette, MD

EHS President

EHS Ambassador of the Month, Oliver Marin-Peña

It is a tremendous honour to be a European Hip Society Ambassador. To be honest, I felt as EHS Ambassador since the first time I contacted with EHS during 2006 EHS Congress in Antalya (Turkey). I remember clearly the heat at this time on the Turkish coast! It was one of my first presentations of a free paper in English and I was so excited. The paper was titled “Current incidence of Femoroacetabular impingement in our young adult population with hip osteoarthritis”.

In this fantastic scenario, I understood the principles of the European Hip Society: share knowledge, always offer friendship and walk together to go further.

On the last day of the meeting, I filled in my application for “EHS Member” with the kind sponsorship of Prof Garcia-Cimbrelo and Prof Cordero-Ampuero. I became an EHS member in 2007 and always had the feeling of being part of it.

I have participated in every EHS meetings since then with paper presentations, posters or moderations. I remember perfectly great meetings in Athens (2010), Milano (2012), Stockholm (2014), Munich (2016) and La Hague (2018). However, my special thought is to the brilliant organization of the 8th EHS Congress in my city (Madrid) by Prof Garcia-Cimbrelo in 2008. I still have a vivid picture in my mind, the fantastic welcome cocktail on the field of “Santiago Bernabeu Real Madrid Stadium”. I hope this Coronavirus Pandemic will allow us to celebrate our well-desired 2021 Lille Meeting.

Since that early year 2006, Hip International Journal became one of my references of knowledge. I have published several papers as author and collaborated as reviewer in more than 30 papers since 2010.

EHS is my “professional” family and therefore, I feel so happy to be EHS Ambassador this month. I promise I’ll continue working to represent EHS everywhere.

Just a brief note about my pathway as a “Hip Surgeon”. I finished my Medical School at Universidad Autonoma de Madrid in 1998, followed by a Residency Program in Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology at Hospital Universitario Severo Ochoa (Madrid-Spain.1999-2004).

I strongly believe in the philosophy of “surgeon of one joint” and not “one technique surgeon”. Since I was a resident, I always thought that when a patient came to the clinic with a hip problem, you should be able to offer the best surgical technique to fix patient’s claim.

At the end of my residence, I was so lucky to get a grant from Spanish Orthopaedic Society (SECOT) to do a 4-month fellowship at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, USA). This experience in 2003 changed my mind about hip surgery. I had the opportunity to stay with Prof Miguel Cabanela and Prof Robert Trousdale who introduced me to the incredible world of hip preserving surgery and complex hip replacement.

As destiny is very capricious, I met my friend and great hip surgeon Manel Ribas in this faraway place, and we continued as friends since then.

Posteriorly, I could consolidate my knowledge in this field with an AAOS grant in 2004 that included a visiting observership to Mayo Clinic again and Rush Presbyterian Hospital (Chicago).

In the following years, due to my interest for hip preserving surgery, I was so lucky to visit great preserving surgeons as Kjeld Soballe (Denmark), Richard Villar (UK), Michael Dienst (Munich), Marc Phillipon (Vail), Bryan Kelly (New York). However, hip arthroplasty (primary and revisions) was also an important part of my daily practice with complex primary cases and revisions. In 2013 I was honoured by the Spanish Society with the Award “Miguel Cabanela” and could visit again Mayo Clinic to enhanced my hip arthroplasty and hip preserving surgical skills with my colleague Dr Rafael Sierra.

My current practice since 2008 is developed as Senior Consultant of Hip Surgery Unit, at Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor (Madrid-Spain). My practice is mainly focused on hip pathology in young adults that includes hip preserving surgery and hip arthroplasty (primary and revision).

I commonly participate in national/international meetings as lecturer about hip preserving surgery and hip arthroplasty. I personally have had the opportunity to organize several hip meetings and cadaver labs (last organization in 2019 Annual Meeting in Madrid of the International Society of Hip Arthroscopy & Preserving Surgery-ISHA). I’m a reviewer in different journals (Hip International, SICOT-J, JHPS, RECOT, AJSM, EFORT Open Review). My academic contribution is completed with several indexed hip publications and chapters in different hip surgery books (ORCID).

Finally, I would like to thank European Hip Society for this opportunity to be an Ambassador of this fantastic family that made me grow up as a hip surgeon in a suitable environment.

Kind Regards,

Oliver Marin-Peña