Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Hip & Knee Surgeons from China, United States Share Research

The Annual Meeting of the 2018 American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAKHS) in Dallas took place the first week of November and brought together some of the sharpest minds in orthopedics from geographic regions on opposite sides of the world.

Fifty orthopedic surgeons, all members of the Chinese Association of Orthopedic Surgeons (CAOS), attended the AAHKS meeting through Johnson & Johnson for several days of idea and research sharing. Surgeons from both countries gave lectures, shared findings and discussed topics in panel question and answer format.

“The population in China is enormous. These surgeons with relatively few years of experience in joint replacement surgery have faced some extremely difficult cases with excellent outcomes,” said Thomas Fehring, MD, OrthoCarolina Hip and Knee Center and past president of AAHKS.

Orthopedic surgeons in China have only been performing joint replacements for about 10 years. In the last decade the country has made notable progress in joint replacement surgery and in developing artificial joints. With a population of 1.386 billion, pathology in China is extreme and there is a high need for specialty care including orthopedic surgeries. Joint replacement has become a more commonly accepted method of treatment in China when non-operative techniques fail for end-stage joint conditions.

“Joint replacement is newer in China but they are quickly developing world-class techniques,” said Fehring.  “We all learned from one another and it was a fascinating interchange of how surgeons from different countries learn things.”