by Brett R. Levine, MD
The 11th Congress of Chinese Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (CAOS) in Hangzhou, China featured a co-branded program with AAHKS with Richard H. Rothman, MD, PhD and Yan Wang, MD serving as Chairs and Quoqiang Zhang serving as Executive Chair. The program included numerous American and Chinese surgeons discussing a wide array of topics in both a lecture and small panel question and answer format. Specific lectures addressed management of dysplastic hips, perioperative optimization of patients, femoral and acetabular revision principles, biomaterial properties of acetabular components and practice management pearls. The program appeared to be a great success with outstanding discussions amongst the moderators, panel members and attendees.
The day was filled with stimulating discussions featuring differing opinions amongst the CAOS and AAHKS members. Significant attention was focused on bearing surfaces for total hip arthroplasty, single vs. two-stage procedures for infection and overall management of bony defects in revision hip and knee arthroplasty. It was a wonderful collaboration between the two organizations that culminated in a high-tech opening ceremony, followed by a night out in Hangzhou to witness the Impression West Lake Show.
In the end, the two organizations have a common bond of performing high quality surgery for our patients with an investment in educating our peers, students and patients. Interviews for a traveling fellowship to the United States were held on the second day with numerous well-qualified applicants being discussed. This was another step in growing the AAHKS-CAOS relationship, and I think moving forward we will see an expansion of the international participation in the AAHKS Annual Meeting and publication media. I personally would like to thank both organizations, and particularly the organizing committee, for the outstanding hospitality and meeting that was put together.