Specialist Society News

British Indian Orthopaedic Society (BIOS) update

Bijayendra Singh, Amit Tolat and Sunil Garg

The British Indian Orthopaedic Society (BIOS) recently held its 22nd Annual Conference in Cardiff. It was an online meeting with the Council and the local organisers getting together at Mercure North Cardiff. The meeting was well attended with over 800 registrants and 500 delegates watching it live throughout the day. This was streamed live via Ortho TV and there were over 3,500 viewers of the live telecast. The Presidential Lecture was delivered by Dr Nishith Shah from Ahmedabad on Knee Ligament Injuries in the paediatric age group whilst the Organisers Lecture was delivered by Dr Ashish Babhulkar from Pune on Fractures of the Proximal Humerus. The current BOA President, Mr Bob Handley and IOA President Dr B Shivashankar also presented at the meeting.

Sessions on Pain Management, Specialist Rehabilitation, Trauma and Arthroplasty was delivered by local and international faculty. The meeting received RCS accreditation with 11 CPD points. Trainees had an opportunity to present podium papers and poster abstracts which will be published in the BJJ. The industry support was well appreciated.

BIOS will be presenting two revalidation sessions at the 2021 BOA Annual Congress titled ‘My joint is still painful after surgery’. These will be delivered by infection and pain specialists as well as orthopaedic Consultants.

COVID-19 continued to impact our educational activities with cancellation of the 2020 conference as well as all the fellowships planned for 2020 and 2021.

We replaced the lack of face-to-face interaction with Webinars for Core Trainees on the Common Orthopaedic Problems that shadowed the curriculum and these have been received very well. We delivered lectures for medical students which were very well attended. All the videos are available on the BIOS YouTube channel – www.youtube.com/ channel/UCTL3HEGRr6E3Wllz5NLUqMQ.

At present the BIOS membership stands at approximately 530 life members and plans on expanding the society’s educational goals in 2022 – it stands shoulder to shoulder with the BOA in helping to educate the current and future generation of orthopaedic surgeons.

The British Orthopaedic Oncology Society (BOOS) update

Robert Ashford and Tom Cosker

Metastatic disease presenting to orthopaedic surgeons is on the rise and it is crucial that all orthopaedic surgeons have a sound understanding of the principles of treatment, which can be very different from standard orthopaedic trauma surgery. The British Orthopaedic Oncology Society is focusing this year on providing a greater understanding of those with metastatic disease and ensuring that all surgeons, no matter which area of practice they subspecialise in, have a sound treatment algorithm for this important patient group. Increased life expectancy (largely due to a reduction in mortality from common conditions such as myocardial infarction, stroke and infection) mean that patients are presenting with increased frequency from metastatic disease. We are also seeing more primary malignant bone tumours in conjunction with this increased life expectancy. Combined with this is the fact that treatment for common cancers has become exponentially more effective meaning that the survival from previously fatal cancers (particularly renal, thyroid and breast) is now much longer and often in excess of 10 years.

Surgeons must avoid the common pitfalls of misdiagnosing such lesions, failing to investigate fully, not organising sufficient investigations, over-estimating the efficacy of adjuvant therapy, under-estimating survival and failing to communicate with Oncology colleagues. BOOS has worked hard to develop new guidelines for the management of metastatic disease and will be disseminating this information at Regional Specialist Study Days, the BOA Annual Congress in Aberdeen, and at Society Specific Meetings such as recent presentations by Tom Cosker at the London Shoulder Meeting and a BOOS session at the British Hip Society. All units are encouraged to ensure they have a dedicated metastatic lead in post who is supported by a regional network and a designated specialist tumour unit (in England, one of the five specialist bone tumour services). Communication is the key and all surgeons are encouraged to fully discuss, investigate and communicate such cases with colleagues so that these, traditionally under-served patients, are given the treatment that they deserve.

British Elbow & Shoulder Society (BESS) update

Amar Rangan

BESS 2021 returned to our virtual conference environment once again. This year we have included three great events in one: Annual Scientific Meeting; Instructional Course; and Elbow Update Symposium.

We were excited to host USA as our guest nation with ASES and ASSET contributing. It was a great opportunity to forge closer links with our international colleagues. For our Annual Scientific Meeting, our live launch day took place on 30th June hosted by our local organising committee alongside President (Amar Rangan) and Honorary Secretary (Steve Drew). Guest lectures were given by Dr Mark Frankle and Dr Margie Olds and we ended the day with Mark and Margie joining us for a live Q&A session.

All the usual elements were catered for in the meeting including Hot Topics, Masterclasses, and Research and AHP Symposiums. For a different perspective Steve Drew redesigned the format of the meeting to include a Getting It Right First- Time section in each of our themes which has proved very popular.

Shantanu Shahane and his committee led the way on our instructional course programme which has now gone full cycle and starts again on course 1. Shantanu approached the course content differently focusing on case studies developed specifically for online learning.

And finally, our Elbow Update Symposium, which launches on 9th September, has been organised by Joideep Phadnis, Adam Watts and Val Jones. It features a staggering 30 international speakers supported by UK faculty with pre-course and post-course webinars.

Our meeting has been awarded 32 CPD points and all the content is available on demand until 31st October 2021 and you can still register at www.bess.ac.uk.

BESS would like to thank to our Northeast team for hosting this most enjoyable and successful conference. We now look forward to a face-to-face meeting BESS 2022, hosted by our Liverpool team.

Combined Services Orthopaedic Society (CSOS) update

Liam Kilbane, Tom Wood and Ian Winson

This year’s CSOS meeting was held at the D-Day Museum and Southsea Castle in Southsea, Portsmouth on 22nd July. The meeting was a significant challenge for the organising committee who postponed the meeting once and needed to keep a close eye on the Government’s lockdown easing rules. Despite this, they managed to pull off a very successful and unusually exclusive face-to-face event, there was certainly a palpable sense of excitement to be at a meeting which wasn’t hosted online!

The main meeting was preceded by a trainees’ Instructional course with teaching on Damage Control Orthopaedics and a hands-on saw bone session on lower limb external fixation.

There was a high standard of presentations given with the prize winners below:

Best Overall Presentation – Surg Lt Cdr Louise McMenemy for the summary of her recent PhD work in predicting outcomes with the Bespoke Offloading Brace (BOB) in foot and ankle injuries.

Best of the Best – Maj Charles Handford for his presentation on cost utility analysis in bilateral femoral osseointegration in trans-femoral amputation following blast injury. This found a decreasing QALY cost approaching the NICE criteria for cost effectiveness in the patients at the 5 – 6 year point post-procedure.

Best Trainee Paper – Maj Abigail Johnson for her collaborative work in establishing a new tourniquet pressure safety margin. Aiming to create a formulaic approach in setting a minimal safe tourniquet pressure, her work with Professor David Warwick may lead to new national guidelines.

Special guests at the meeting included Mr Don McBride, immediate past president of the BOA and the Surgeon General, Major General Timothy Hodgetts. The Society heard a ‘state of the nation’ address by our chair, Colonel Alistair Mountain, and the meeting concluded with a strategic overview from the Surgeon General.

The meeting crescendo was a very memorable Mess Dinner held on board HMS Victory. This special occasion honoured several military surgeons who have recently retired from military service including Surg Capt Sarah Stapley who received standing applause despite the rather restricted headroom. We also said farewell to Mr Ian Winson who concluded his term in office as our President, and handed the Presidency to Mr Simon Hodkinson. A beating the retreat and music during the dinner was provided by members of the Royal Marine band. Changing tempo slightly we all joined in with a local sea shanty group to finish the evening on a high!

We look forward our next meeting which will be held in Exeter in May 2022.

World Orthopaedic Concern (WOC) UK update

Deepa Bose

The global pandemic has been tough for all of us, regardless of where we live or what language we speak. If we in the UK (a developed nation) find it hard, it is not too difficult to imagine how much more challenging and devastating it is for those without access to adequate healthcare even in the best of times. The lack of ability to socially distance, and lack of access to hygienic facilities and vaccines affect a significant percentage of the world’s population.

The pandemic has seen considerable changes to the way WOC operates, in common with many other charity organisations working in low and middle income countries (LMICs). The curtailment of international travel has meant that those of us who have ongoing projects overseas have not been able to visit in person since the start of 2020. As with most clouds, there has been a silver lining, which has seen the growth and development of virtual platforms for distance learning, as well as for clinical case discussions. These have allowed us to keep in touch with the medical staff on the ground, continuing our educational and clinical input.

WOC held its first virtual conference on 5th June 2021, hosted by Orthohub. This has allowed us to reach a wider audience than usual, for which we are very grateful. It was especially heartening to see the interest it generated in trainees, and we are delighted that our trainee subcommittee is going from strength to strength. Several of them have initiated collaboratives with trainees in LMIC countries, which are mutually beneficial. The conference recording can be accessed via the Orthohub website at: https://orthohub.xyz/course/world-orthopaedicconcern-conference-2021 or via YouTube: www.youtube.com/watchv=qb7gXrPxcPE.