“Knee Sur­gery” was the theme of the first Or­tho-Trauma-Sport Con­gress, which took place from April 13 to 14 this year in Bad Hof­gas­tein. The sci­en­ti­fic lea­der­ship was pro­vi­ded by Head of De­part­ment, As­so­ciate Pro­fes­sor Dr. Tho­mas Müll­ner and As­so­ciate Pro­fes­sor Dr. Dr. Ma­xi­mi­lian Kas­pa­rek from the Evan­ge­li­cal Hos­pi­tal Vienna.

The aim was to pro­vide par­ti­ci­pants with an up-to-date over­view of the most mo­dern and la­test tre­at­ment tech­ni­ques for knee in­ju­ries, as well as in­no­va­tive tech­ni­ques in ar­ti­fi­cial knee joint replacement.

The sci­en­ti­fic pro­gram be­gan with the to­pic of mo­dern tre­at­ment for me­nis­cal pa­tho­lo­gies. The sur­gi­cal in­di­ca­tion for me­nis­cal te­ars and the de­cis­ion for par­tial me­niscec­tomy or me­nis­cal re­pair were in­ten­si­vely dis­cus­sed. Af­ter an ex­ci­ting up­date on ramp and root le­si­ons, the tre­at­ment of post-me­niscec­tomy syn­drome and me­nis­cal trans­plan­ta­tion, the pro­gram con­tin­ued the­ma­ti­cally with cru­ciate li­ga­ment sur­gery, co­ve­ring both in­di­ca­ti­ons for cru­ciate li­ga­ment re­pla­ce­ment and the ana­tomy of the cru­ciate li­ga­ments. Ad­di­tio­nally, an­te­rior cru­ciate li­ga­ment rein­ser­tion and re­vi­sion pro­ce­du­res were ad­dres­sed. This in­te­res­t­ing the­ma­tic block con­cluded with the tre­at­ment of pos­te­rior cru­ciate li­ga­ment in­ju­ries and mo­dern post­ope­ra­tive re­ha­bi­li­ta­tion af­ter cru­ciate li­ga­ment injuries. 

Sub­se­quently, Hans Grug­ger, a for­mer Aus­trian ski ra­cer and four-time World Cup win­ner, de­li­vered a mo­ving key­note lec­ture about his mul­ti­ple se­vere in­ju­ries, sur­ge­ries, re­ha­bi­li­ta­ti­ons, and come­backs. Af­ter­wards, a new ski bin­ding, de­si­gned to pre­vent se­vere knee in­ju­ries in the fu­ture, was presented. 

On the af­ter­noon of the first day, the ma­nage­ment of pe­ri­ar­ti­cu­lar knee frac­tures, in­di­ca­ti­ons for os­teo­tomy and uni­com­part­mental knee ar­thro­plasty, as well as iso­la­ted pa­tell­ofe­mo­ral re­pla­ce­ment were ad­dres­sed. Fur­ther­more, ali­gnment con­cepts in pri­mary knee ar­thro­plasty were discussed. 

The se­cond day of the con­gress be­gan with the tre­at­ment of car­ti­lage de­fects in the knee joint, start­ing with the cur­rent evi­dence for mi­cro­frac­ture, fol­lo­wed by the tre­at­ment of lo­cal car­ti­lage de­fects using Au­to­cart, au­to­log­ous car­ti­lage-bone trans­plan­ta­tion, and au­to­log­ous chon­dro­cyte transplantation.

Af­ter an up­date on mo­dern blood ma­nage­ment and throm­bo­sis pro­phy­la­xis in ar­thro­plasty, the la­test ro­bo­tic tech­no­lo­gies in pri­mary knee ar­thro­plasty were dis­cus­sed. Ad­di­tio­nally, the re­sults of mo­dern re­con­s­truc­tion con­cepts, such as the res­to­ra­tion of the ori­gi­nal leg axis and the ori­gi­nal knee tech­ni­que, were presented. 

The day’s key­note lec­ture was gi­ven by Mi­chael Strauss, an Aus­trian freeri­der, who pro­vi­ded par­ti­ci­pants with a fa­sci­na­ting in­sight into the world of ski freeride sports.

The se­cond day con­cluded with the dia­gno­sis and tre­at­ment of knee pro­sthe­sis in­sta­bi­li­ties, pe­ri­pro­sthe­tic in­fec­tions, and pe­ri­pro­sthe­tic knee joint fractures.

In sum­mary, these were two sci­en­ti­fi­cally highly in­te­res­t­ing and in­s­truc­tive days with high-qua­lity dis­cus­sions. Due to the ex­cel­lent feed­back, the se­cond Or­tho-Trauma Con­gress is plan­ned for next year, April 11 and 12, 2024, in Bad Hofgastein. 

Hans Grug­ger de­li­vered a mo­ving key­note lec­ture about his career, in­ju­ries, and come­backs in ski racing.

(from left to right: Tho­mas Müll­ner, Hans Grug­ger, Ma­xi­mi­lian Kasparek)