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SICOT e-Newsletter

Issue No. 14 - November 2009

Editorial by Prof Jochen Eulert
SICOT Secretary General

From 29 October to 1 November 2009, the Royal College of Orthopaedic Surgeons of Thailand (RCOST) hosted this year's Annual International Conference of SICOT in the wonderful Royal Cliff Beach Resort in Pattaya and they did a great job. A total of 2,675 doctors attended the meeting, 1,775 from Thailand and the neighbouring countries and 900 from the rest of the world. The uncertain political situation in the months before the event certainly affected the international participation but when we were in the country all was very calm and harmonious.

The whole scientific programme was in English, starting with a full day of instructional courses. 268 oral presentations and 497 posters were presented from 1,023 submitted abstracts. The authors came from 66 different countries. The ten countries with the highest number of submitted abstracts were India (190), United Kingdom (99), Thailand (75), Japan (58), Korea (46), Egypt (40), France (36), Turkey (36), Russia (30), and Romania (28).

80 invited speakers delivered lectures during the various sessions, which were also chaired by respected experts in their field. The highlights of the meetings are always the world-renowned special guests invited as Plenary Speakers, who this year were:

  • Suthorn Bavonratanavech (Thailand): "Evolution of trauma surgery"
  • Shoichi Kokubun (Japan): "Spine surgeries in the aging society"
  • Martin Krismer (Austria): "A direct anterior approach for hip arthroplasty – technique, potential, and critical valuation"
  • José Morcuende (United States): "Nonoperative treatment of clubfeet: what’s the evidence?"
  • George Thompson (United States): "Pediatric pelvic osteotomies: indications, contraindications and techniques"

All sessions were very well attended and lively discussions took place at many of them. The industry lunch symposia were fully booked and a huge industrial exhibition offered the latest developments in technology and medical treatment. It demonstrated that doctors and industry are partners in the effort to provide the best care for our patients.

During the different events of the social programme the Thai culture was presented in a very impressive way, demonstrating the richness of this great nation. The very solemn Opening Ceremony was a highlight of the social programme. The unforgettable and extraordinary speech of the famous Mechai Viravaidya who with his “out of the box view” demonstrated how the burning problem of an uncontrolled birth rate could be overcome in a short time. In other parts of the world the situation is exactly the opposite. The other addresses by Cody Bünger, SICOT President, Shantharam Shetty, President of the Indian Orthopaedic Association, and Saranatra Waikakul, RCOST President, will be published in the December 2009 issue of the Newsletter.

The Charity Run at 6 o’clock in the morning was great fun, but merited a greater international attendance.

At the Closing Ceremony, awards and diplomas were handed out and the names of the winners can be found here.

All in all, it was scientifically a very interesting meeting, which was well organised by our friends from RCOST, together with those who were involved from SICOT. We greatly thank the members of RCOST for their overwhelming hospitality as they clearly wished to make all of us happy. We left this wonderful country with the firm hope to return one day.