Dr Cutbush attended the Australian Orthopaedic Association (AOA) Annual Scientific Meeting in October 2014.The conference was held at the Melbourne Convention Centre on October 12 to 16th. Dr Cutbush delivered talks on several topics regarding shoulder surgery.He gave the following presentations:
Arthroscopic Subscapularis tendon tears are generally regarding as being technically challenging to perform as an arthroscopic procedure. Dr Cutbush discussed his technique of arthroscopic repair of subscapularis tendon tears. Subscapularis tendon tears are relatively rare compared to other rotator cuff tears in the shoulder. Dr Cutbush has performed arthroscopic subscapularis repairs since 2007. In the last four years he has performed over 20 subscapularis repairs with more than 6 months followup in a consecutive series. He presented the results of his research. All the repairs were examined with MRI scan at a minimum of 6 months postop. Of the 20 repairs all were found to be intact on MRI imaging and the clinical results were excellent.
The Inspace prosthesis is an absorbable balloon that is inserted arthroscopically into the subacromial space and inflated with saline. The balloon is made out of a bioabsorbable plastic that is commonly used in absorbable sutures. It degrades and is completely removed by the body of approximately 6 months. The prosthesis is used in patients that have a large irrepairable rotator cuff tear and are in significant pain and discomfort. Dr Cutbush has used the prosthesis in 7 patients with greater than 12 months followup. All patients had very significant improvement in their shoulder pain and funtion following surgery. By 12 months the improvement had lessened in three patients. Two of whom Dr Cutbush went on to perform reverse total shoulder replacements. One patient remains only somewhat improved compared to his preoperative status. Four of the seven patients continue to have an excellent postoperative result in their shoulder. These results were superior to those expected for this prosthesis.
Dr Cutbush presented his technique for management of chronic acromioclavicular joint dislocations. Dr Cutbush has developed a technique to reconstruct these injuries arthroscopically. He described his technique and discussed the results. Although follow up periods are currently short there have not yet been any failures of the technique.
Dr Cutbush has developed an arthroscopic technique to repair the labrum when he performs an arthroscopic latarjet procedure. He presented his surgical technique and the results to date.