Guest Editorial 2015

Abstract

The 24th annual meeting of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) took place in Dallas, TX, on November 6–9, 2014. The educational content of the meeting continues to be unparalleled for practicing hip and knee surgeons and ancillary personnel. The meeting has also grown as the important forum for exchange of ideas in hip and knee care. Under the care of program chair, Javad Parvizi, MD, the program was diverse, covering primary and revision hip and knee topics as well as perioperative techniques, managing risk, and containing cost. In addition, eight well-attended symposia with expert faculty helped bolster the complete educational experience for attendees. Fitting for an organization that has seen annual meeting attendance rise 568% over the last ten years, the competition for abstract acceptance was impressive. In 2014, 59 podium and 200 poster presentations were selected from 1051 abstract submissions, ensuring that the highest quality research in the field of hip and knee surgery was presented to members. A highlight of the program was the selection of the three award papers that appear first in this supplement. The AAHKS Clinical Award was presented to David Manning, MD, and his colleagues from Chicago, for their outstanding evaluation of the American College of Surgeons Risk Calculator and its poor ability to predict complications after total joint arthroplasty. The study underlines the need for accurate risk stratification calculators for patients undergoing arthroplasty procedures. The James A. Rand Award winner was Gwo-Chin Lee, MD, and colleagues from Philadelphia, for their excellent work on identification of ideal candidates for short stay total joint arthroplasty. With efforts from multiple fronts to decrease length of stay, this work certainly aids the surgeon in identifying patients at risk of perioperative complications. Finally the Lawrence D. Dorr Award was presented to Javad Parvizi, MD, and colleagues from Philadelphia, PA, for their randomized clinical trial on the effects of core decompression and autologous bone marrow implantation in osteonecrosis of the femoral head. Certainly, improving the results of these procedures moves the ball forward for osteonecrosis patients. The remaining twenty-six papers have been divided into sections on health policy, quantifying risk and containing cost in total joint arthroplasty, primary total hip and knee arthroplasty, revision knee arthroplasty and hip preservation. These papers highlight the broad depth of issues faced by adult reconstruction surgeons including managing patient risk factors and containing cost in total joint arthroplasty, implant-specific design issues associated with failure, evolving surgical techniques, and challenges in postoperative recovery. It is worth noting that three of the papers are randomized controlled trials, indicating that as the organization grows so does the quality of science presented at the annual meeting. A special word of thanks is due to the entire program committee as well as the dedicated AAHKS staff led by Michael Zarski. The success of the annual meeting would not be possible without the tireless work of AAHKS staff members such as Eileen Lusk, Krista Stewart, Sharon Creed, and Jean Furlan among many others. I would also like to acknowledge the many volunteer orthopedic surgeons who serve as peer-reviewers for submitted abstracts and for publication review; without them the papers in this supplement would be of inferior quality. Finally, I would like to thank and congratulate immediate past AAHKS President, Brian S. Parsley, MD for a job well done, and his excellent leadership in a time of many challenges for the joint surgeon. I would also like to thank the editorial team at The Journal of Arthroplasty, including Editor-in-Chief William Hozack, MD, Supplement Editor J. Bohannon Mason, MD, and Managing Editor Taylor Bowen, for their continued support and their dedication to efficiently publishing papers from the annual meeting. Finally, congratulations to all of the presenters and authors whose work was featured at the annual meeting and in the following pages. The orthopedic community has benefitted from your efforts. I hope you enjoy the 2014 version of The Journal of Arthroplasty/AAHKS supplement.