November 2020

Dear EHS Members & Friends,

We are (finally) entering what appears to be the end of a very chaotic 2020 year! … We thought the worst was behind us and unfortunately here is this second wave of this damn Covid! … We will have to try anyway to take advantage of our difficulties, and get the opportunity to move forward, again and again “Citius, Altius, Fortius” …

The EFORT congress is a great success in its version 3.0 of “VEC” type. Thanks to the organizers for showing us the way to a new style of orthopedic congress. Nothing of course would really replace this conviviality of face-to-face meetings and exchanges between colleagues, which we have been able to appreciate for so many years, but at least, today we are discovering a new mode of high-level scientific communication, made possible by the fantastic course of these “covid-free” videoconferences… Hats off, gentlemen !

How to end this short end-of-year address? … Undoubtedly we need to wish everyone, and in spite of everything, the best for these end-of-year celebrations, and especially good health, with the hope of 2021 returning to normal, without mask to go out and no curfew to get in.

And what might Santa Claus put under the Christmas tree on December 25? … A brilliant anti-covid vaccine, of course!

On behalf of the entire EHS Board, warmest regards to you, your loved ones, your collaborators and of course your patients… Stay safe!

Jean-Alain Epinette, MD

EHS President

Letter from the Secretary General, Professor Eleftherios Tsiridis

Dear Members,

We wish a very warm welcome to two new members this month: Assistant Prof Dimitrios Koulalis from Athens, Hellas and Prof Georgi Wassilew from Greifswald, Germany. Both become Full Members of EHS and we look forward to their input in the near future.

The 7th MAST Arthroplasty Course is fast approaching (11-13th December) and this year is entitled, “Advances in Arthroplasty: What Matters? Complexities, Complications and New Technologies”. We have arranged a battle between USA and Europe, with Prof Javad Parvizi (Prof and Head of Clinical Research Team at Rothman Orthopaedic Institute), Prof Craig Della Valle (Prof and Chief of Adult Reconstruction at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago), Prof Antonia Chen (Assoc Prof at Harvard Medical School and Director of Arthroplasty Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston), Prof Ran Schwarzkopf (Assoc Chief of Adult Reconstruction Surgery NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital, New York) and Prof Stuart Goodman (Prof of Surgery, Stanford University, California) representing the USA perspective. Defending Europe will be names very well known to all of you: Prof Jean Noël Argenson (Chairman at the Aix-Marseille University Hospital, France), Prof Justin Cobb (Chair at Imperial College London, UK), Dr Jean Alain Epinette (EHS President, Clinique de Bruay-Labuissière, France), Prof Sebastien Lustig (Chair at Lyon North University Hospital, France), Dr Oliver Marin Peña (University Hospital Infanta Leonor in Madrid, Spain), Prof Klaus-Peter Günther (President of EFORT, Chairman at University of Medicine, Dresden, Germany), Dr Charles Riviere (Clinique du Sport, Centre de l’Arthrose in Bordeaux-Mérignac and The Lister Hospital, London) and Prof Wim Schreurs (EHS Past President, Prof of the Dutch Arthroplasty Registry, Radboud University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands). The Hellenic faculty includes Prof Theofilos Karachalios (EFORT Treasurer & Past EHS Treasurer, University of Thessaly) and Dr George Macheras (EHS Nat Rep for Hellas, Past President of EHS, KAT General Hospital of Athens), as well as Prof Konstantinos Malizos (Chairman, University of Thessaly), Prof Panagiotis Megas (Chairman, University of Patras), Prof George Drosos (Chairman, University of Thrace), Dr Athanasios Kostakos (President of Hellenic Assoc of Orthopaedic Surgery & Traumatology), Dr Vassilios Bitounis (Past President of Hellenic Assoc of Orthopaedic Surgery & Traumatology), Prof Panayiotis Papaggelopoulos (Chairman, University of Athens), Prof George Babis (Chairman, University of Athens), Assistant Prof Lazaros Poultsides (Aristotle University Thessaloniki) and Dr Efstathios Kenanidis (Aristotle University Thessaloniki).

Please see our EHS Hip Calendar for information on more orthopaedic web based courses.

Our Ambassador of the Month is Dr Olga Pidgaiska from Ukraine – thanks to her for the nice report from Kharkiv below – while our our Nat Rep for The Netherlands, Dr Stephan Vehmeijer, reports from Delft over on the Covid-Update page for November. Thanks to him.

Best wishes,

EHS Secretary General, Professor Eleftherios Tsiridis

EHS Ambassador of the Month, Olga Pidgaiska

Dear Colleagues,

It is a great privilege to be invited as Ambassador for the European Hip Society.

I am an orthopaedic surgeon and the chief of the arthroplasty department of the outstanding research orthopaedic center of Ukraine called Sytenko Institute of Spine and Joint pathology. Our establishment has a long history and experience in hip reconstructive surgeries; a large amount of operation techniques were designed within our walls. I was advised to join the European Hip Society a few years ago by my colleague Prof Stanislav Bondarenko, who serves as EHS National Representative of Ukraine. Starting to get acquainted with orthopaedic specialists throughout Europe at international meetings, I realized that this is a warm and open community; a well-organized society with great opportunities for young surgeons. Every year the EHS grows and becomes stronger all over the world. It became possible to organize high volume meetings in our city with the cooperation and strong support from EHS and EFORT. It was a pleasure to be one of the fellows from EHS and be involved in the orthopeadic Travelling Fellowship through Hellas in 2016. Since then I have also been supported by EHS for a Sabattical Fellowship for studying hip arthroscopic procedures, was a fellow at Mark Paterson Fellowship organized by EFORT/BJJ, took observership from AAOS at Campbell Clinic, etc. All were excellent opportunities to share knowledge and surgical techniques around Europe and beyond.

Nowadays Ukraine is on the peak of Covid-19 cases and our region is highly affected by the pandemic. And it is just the first wave, or the second which covered people simultaneously. Maybe we appeared in at little bit better situation compared to the first countries affected by COVID, because our minds have somehow adapted to these awful numbers of sick people and deaths. Now we have more information about treatment regimens of virus pneumonia and know how to better protect each other, we use guidelines and practices for patient care in conditions of Covid-19 from European colleagues. As many other centers, we had to decrease the number of surgeries. Just week ago we had to stop any surgery activities in the department because of lack of staff and surgeons who are affected by coronavirus.

Specific measures countries have taken in response to local outbreaks have varied widely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now we are confronting a crossroad. We either stay the course with re-opening or revert back to the more stringent measures of “distancing” and “lockdown”. Today’s reality is sad and it is hard to plan anything, but despite the fact that we are not able to meet each other physically, our orthopaedic leaders have found the possibilities to organize and provide further virtual meetings, collaboration, education etc. This worldwide situation made us redefine learning approaches, to use modern technologies for further education, and use a new format of conferences and meetings. I am sure, we are becoming stronger.

Olga Pidgaiska MD, PhD