Invited as faculty
An invitation to speak as faculty at the 9th Academic Congress of the Asian Shoulder & Elbow Association in Mumbai in November 2017.
The sessions
The programme includes a demonstration session on open and arthroscopic Latarjet techniques, and talks on glenoid exposure in difficult cases and on preventing infection in shoulder replacement surgery.
What the Asian Shoulder & Elbow Association is
The Asian Shoulder and Elbow Association, referred to as ACASEA, is the regional body bringing together surgeons across Asia whose practice is concentrated on the shoulder and elbow. Regional associations of this kind sit between the national shoulder societies and the international congress. They hold an academic congress at which members present research, run instructional sessions for surgeons in training, and invite faculty from inside and outside the region to teach on nominated subjects.
The reason regional meetings matter is that the practical circumstances of surgery differ between countries. Which imaging is routinely available, which implants are funded, and how patients present and at what stage all vary, and a regional congress is where techniques get discussed in the context those surgeons actually work in.
What the session topics mean
The Latarjet procedure is an operation for a shoulder that dislocates repeatedly where bone has been lost from the front of the socket. A small piece of bone, the coracoid, is moved with its attached tendon to the front of the socket, deepening it and adding a restraining sling of soft tissue. It can be done through an open incision or arthroscopically, through small portals using a camera, and a demonstration session comparing the two is a reasonable way to teach the differences.
Glenoid exposure refers to getting clear sight of and access to the socket on the shoulder blade during shoulder replacement. The socket sits deep, surrounded by muscle and close to nerves, and in a stiff or badly worn shoulder it can be difficult to reach. Since the position of the socket component largely determines how the replacement functions afterwards, exposure is a prerequisite rather than a detail. Preventing infection around an implant is addressed through a sequence of measures before, during and after the operation, since bacteria on an implant surface are difficult to clear once established. Each of these decisions depends on the individual patient's anatomy and imaging. Individual results vary.
Related information
- Our post on the talk on preventing infection
- Our post on the talk on glenoid exposure
- Shoulder instability
- Latarjet and labral repair