Annual Meeting of Orthopedic Surgeons Under Way in Louisiana

Doctors from all corners of the globe are gathering in New Orleans, La., this week to attend the world’s largest meeting of orthopedic surgeons and allied health professionals.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) expects about 31,000 attendees at its 2010 Annual Meeting, which begins today and ends Saturday (March 13). This year’s event marks the fifth time AAOS has met in New Orleans. The academy last met there in 2003 and was scheduled to return in 2006, but gathered instead in Chicago, Ill., because the city could not accommodate the group so soon after Hurricane Katrina. The costliest hurricane in U.S. history flooded 80 percent of the low-lying city, killed roughly 1,500 people along the Gulf Coast and caused about $80 billion in damage.

Organizers of this year’s meeting expect attendance to be slightly higher than it has been in recent years. “It’s more than we usually attract because of the location,” Joseph Bosco, the meeting’s program committee chairman and vice president of orthopedics at the New York University Hospital for Joint Disease, told The Times-Picayune. “We have it at six or seven different venues, and New Orleans is always one of the highest ranked.”

Though the meeting’s opening ceremony will be held tomorrow, programming begins today with poster presentations and scientific exhibits beginning at 1 p.m. Instructional courses—such as hip replacement surgery techniques and the spectrum of applied biomechanical engineering—are being held throughout the day. Details about the instructional courses offered (as well as the meeting’s full agenda) are available at: www.aaos.org/education/anmeet/programs/programs.asp.

Attendees with some free time on their hands before the informal schooling begins can help their fellow surgeons, nurses, and academy members build a park. Designed for children aged 5 to 12, the park will include activities to help kids reduce and prevent falls, build strong bones and give those recovering from joint replacement procedures a safe place to exercise. The 4,000-square-foot park will contain equipment for balance, flexibility and strength as well as a walking/running track. Different stations in the park will feature explanations on the proper ways to perform specific exercises, the reasons the exercises are important, and injury tips. Construction is scheduled to take place today between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., with a ribbon-cutting/dedication ceremony to follow at 4 p.m. Details about the park construction are available at: www.aaos.org/fitnessbuild.

In addition to the courses and seminars about joint reconstruction, this year’s meeting features an exhibit called “Wounded in Action,” a collection of war injury-related artwork (details available at www.woundedinactionart. org/look.php). AAOS also added a symposium and open forum tomorrow on health care reform to discuss legislation proposed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, and outline lobbying activities. The symposium will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the La Nouvelle Ballroom of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.

On Thursday, surgeons who traveled to Haiti to help victims of that country’s devastating earthquake two months ago will share their experiences during a symposium that will cover such topics as ethics and safety in the disaster relief effort, the mobilization of the AAOS and Orthopaedic Trauma Association in future earthquake disasters, and working with Haitian nationals to refine the relief effort. For more information, visit www3.aaos.org/education/anmeet/anmt2010/symp/symp.cfm?Pevent=HAITI.

Dr. James Andrews, the surgeon who repaired New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ shoulder, also is scheduled to speak at the annual meeting.