March 2021

Presidential Address

14th EHS Congress in Lille… Hybrid or not hybrid, that is the question?

When we had to postpone our Lille EHS congress scheduled for October 2020, we then thought we could be sure of being able to provide it “presential” in September 2021!… Alas, one year later, the Covid health crisis is still very present, far too many to consider a “face-to-face” congress.

Hence, the “hybrid” solution appeared to us as the best solution, to maintain this character of face-to-face conviviality between the members of our scientific community: 2 years without a physical meeting, it is really unacceptable a priori!… Depending on the evolution of the health crisis before the congress, it could be quite easy to move the cursor towards more or less virtual, while keeping a physical attendance in Lille, for the participants who will have been able to make the trip to the north of France, and in particular, the participation of the many surgeons, usual participants of “Hip Toulouse”. For those who will not have been able to physically be present, including moderators, debaters of round tables, presenters of oral communications, all it takes is a connection as we are now used to being present on the live screen, or eventually record their presentations in advance. This is also true for our industry sponsors, with live meetings or workshops… In addition, the possibility of a replay for all the presentations will allow everyone to watch all the sessions quietly for several months after the congress itself.

Recently the question of a purely virtual, and no longer hybrid congress raised up, given the sanitary conditions to potentially require it… We discussed it a lot within the EHS committees, with the help of our Congress Organizer MCI. It is a completely different organization, and choices would have to be made to adapt to new technical conditions in terms of the programmes of the different sessions. However, no fear, the Lille Grand Palais studios in Lille are perfectly able to meet this new challenge if necessary, and the various congresses of the last 12 months have proven to us that we can successfully organize fantastic virtual congresses!

The question, therefore, remains open for the moment… We will do everything to preserve the spirit of these fraternal meetings between the members of our Society, and thus to favour as much as possible a hybrid solution, with as much “presential” format as possible. We still have three months for the final choice, until mid-June 2021. Of course, we will keep you informed of the decisions taken, but the essential is there: whatever its format, the 14th EHS congress will go well this year, and will take place in Lille!

Until then, the abstracts already submitted last year will remain taken into consideration for 2021, but we nevertheless ask you, to facilitate the management of all 2020 and 2021 abstracts, to confirm these already submitted, modify if necessary or submit new works before the deadline, extended until 4th March… thank you for your understanding, and velocity… Keep in touch on the Lille 2021 EHS Congress website…

What happiness to hope that during the next “presidential addresses” of these newsletters, it will no longer be necessary to take into account the multiple damages of this cursed Covid… we must believe it very strongly, and we thank you in advance for your support and your commitments so that this congress in Lille, whatever its format, is a tremendous success!!!…

“Bringing Orthopaedic Hip Surgeons Together”… More than ever!

Very best regards on behalf of the entire EHS Board,

Jean-Alain Epinette, MD

EHS President 2018-2021

EHS Ambassador of the Month, Gianluca Cusmà Dovico Guatteri

Dear Colleagues,

I was born in Roma but moved very early to South America, Caracas and Margarita Island in Venezuela, because of my parent’s work. Definitively come back to Italy at 16, I completed high school studies in Milan and started Medical School at Milan University, obtaining in 2000 the Bachelor and Medical Degree. During my Residency in Orthopaedics and Traumatology, I began focusing on hip and knee surgery. After a 12-month fellowship in “Mini-invasive Solutions for Knee Replacement”, I completed my residency in 2006 with a final thesis in Unicompartmental Knee Replacement.

Firstly I was Consultant in Knee Surgery and after Consultant in Joint Replacement at the Hip and Knee Surgery Department of a poli-specialty 800-bed private hospital in Milan. In those years the centre was headed by Prof  Lorenzo Spotorno and after he passed away in 2008, by his heir Prof Guido Grappiolo. Under the latter mentoring I had the opportunity to grow up in hip surgery working hard from arthroscopy to complex revisions and was involved in the R&D of the new GTS stem, an evolution of the glorious CLS hip system designed by the founder of our school.

In 2013 I was sent to oversee the start up of a new centre for Hip and Knee Surgery situated in Bergamo at the Humanitas-Gavazzeni Hospital. In 2016 I left because the position of Head of Orthopaedics Department of the Gruppo San Donato Hospital situated in Pavia was offered to me. During last 6 years – because of my natural propensity to international relationships and my passion for travelling – I started to collaborate with several centres in South America (Venezuela, Colombia), Russian Federation, Middle East (Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain) and Far East (Vietnam, China) and I was Visiting Professor of Yangzhou University in China for adult hip and knee primary and revision replacement.

In my last year in Italy I had the wonderful opportunity of teaching and training young surgeons in Complex Hip and Revision Replacement as Adjunct Professor at Campus Biomedico University in Roma. In 2020 I decided to move and join the Royal Bahrain Hospital as Head of Orthopaedics Department. I am so proud to be EHS Ambassador for the GCC area bringing in the Gulf our common orthopaedic culture and mindset for sharing expertise and making networks. With this aim I am travelling a lot in Saudi, Kuwait and Oman, helping colleagues to face complex cases with the support of some medical companies. Modern management of hip ON secondary to sickle cells disease, post traumatic hip arthritis and bone defects in revision THR are hot topics here. European tradition, Italian school, personal experience are key points for a good job and I have to thank my mentors of course, but also our European Hip Society for the strong background. Looking forward to meeting you all in Lille, vaccinated and safe, for a new start together.

Dr Gianluca Cusmà Dovico Guatteri, Head of Orthopedics Department, Royal Bahrain Hospital, Manama