The 5th International Bezmialem Orthopedics Meeting was held on December 19th, 2020 with the opening speeches of our Rector Prof. Dr. Rümeyza Kazancıoğlu and our Assistant Rector Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Tuncay.
The topic of this year's meeting, which was held in the form of a webinar, was "Arthroplasty Options in the Young Osteoarthritic Patient: When, How, Which?" Our Rector Prof. Dr. Rümeyza Kazancıoğlu, who carried out the opening speech of the meeting, stated, “We will hold our Orthopedics Meeting this year for the first time in a virtual environment. We will obtain information from experts on how to proceed in different cases. I am happy to welcome you to this important event organized by our university and I wish you all a fruitful meeting. In addition, I would like to thank all the academicians of the Department of Orthopedics, one of the most successful departments of our Bezmialem Vakıf University, which is one of the young universities with outstanding achievements in science and education.
Another keynote speaker, our Assistant Rector and Faculty Member of the Department of Orthopedics, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Tuncay stated, “This meeting is in a different meeting format, but we have gotten used to this situation as well. We have also seen its advantages. This year we had two alternatives; either we were going to postpone the usual meetings that were in the style we were accustomed to, or we were going to hold a meeting somehow, even if it was to be online. Therefore, with the suggestion of our friends, we decided to hold a half-day meeting this year. I believe it will be a very efficient and effective meeting even in this format".
We see that arthroplasty is increasingly applied to the osteoarthritic shoulder, knee or hip joints of young patients all over the world. On the other hand, unsuccessful arthroplasties performed in young patients can have serious negative consequences. The aim of this meeting was to find answers to the questions of when and how arthroplasty should be performed on which young patients. Dr. Javad Parvizi and Dr. Joseph Zuckerman from the USA, who are world-renowned academicians in their fields, and Dr. Francesco Benazzo from Italy shared their knowledge and experience on hip, shoulder and knee arthroplasty with us.
Among the first speakers, Dr. Joseph D. Zuckerman carried out his presentation on shoulder arthroplasty in young patients. He gave detailed information about the methods and arthroplasty options in the treatment of osteoarthritic shoulders of young patients. Stating that it is very important to prolong prosthetic survival, increase patient satisfaction and prevent possible complications in young patients who undergo shoulder arthroplasty, Dr. Zuckerman discussed in detail what should be done to reach these goals.
During his presentation, Dr. Francesco Benazzo stated the following about knee arthroplasty in young patients: “How do we define a young patient? This definition depends on the patient's activity level and expectations. For some, a young patient is considered to be under the age of 65, for others under 55. When we are dealing with the case of a male former rugby player with hypertrophic osteoarthritis (calcification) in his right knee in his 60s, there is not much to debate. Because the solution is going to be total knee arthroplasty. The results are pretty good because he can walk and jump normally in a few months after surgery. Referring to literature, good results in young patients are directly related to the quality of physical performance they were able to acheive before surgery."
Dr. Javad Parvizi, the last speaker, explained the importance of protecting the hip joint; “I am a good advocate of the mini open anterior approach in suitable patients. I started doing this on cadavers and progressed over time. The labrum can be seen beautifully with the anterior approach, and you can easily repair the labrum with this special surgical approach. The functions of the patients will definitely improve after the surgical procedure." Dr. Parvizi, who shared his experiences and gave clues about hip arthroplasty to be applied in young patients, also answered many questions from the audience.
