21st Century Orthopaedics

The 21st  Century 

 

 

  The new millenium has ushered in the spectre of terrorism and the associated severe trauma. Trauma will therefore remain a high priority in the work of orthopaedic surgeons. These trauma patients are often young in the most productive stage of their lives deserving the very best care we can provide them. Coupled with this, has been the spectacular rise in the prosperity of China and India. The implications of this are considerable. Populations are becoming wealthier and wanting more from their communities and themselves. This has resulted in huge civil and building projects ( with associated industrial accidents), greater number of cars on the rode (again with accidents despite improved car design and safety measures) and people doing more activities(travel, leisure and sport activities-resulting in injury). In fact, the whole world has become a wealthier place from globalization and the Internet, with exceptions of course ( in areas torn apart by civil war or populations simply forgotten and stateless without any rights-the later said to be 15million, IHT 1/4/07). Patients want rapid and modern treatment of their injuries as well as reconstruction of their worn-out joints in order to preserve their physical life styles well into their senior years. Governments concerned about dwindling birth rates also want the same people to work longer to maintain economies of scale. Orthopaedic surgeons need to adopt surgical techniques which allow effective treatment and rapid rehabilitation, hence the explosion of interest in MIS( small incision surgical techniques). But we need to look even further and incorporate modern medical techniques such as stem cell/tissue engineering into our daily routine. The MYJOINT(www.myjoint.org) project to grow the first biological joint was launched by Drs PH Warnke and Suresh Sivananthan in Europe in 2007 and promises to deliver a new era in joint replacements. And only to be ignored at our dire peril is global warming. People and governments, thanks to the pioneering efforts of people like Al Gore of the US, have finally acknowledged the extent of this problem. Natural disasters and upheavels, such as the Tsuanmi of 2005, will escalate in size and frequency causing huge numbers of civilian casualties, if we don't act now to contain the damaging effects of human activities on

the environment. Orthopaedic surgeons need to act both as skilful and progressive surgeons as well as good global citizens.

Dr Sherry and Dr PH Warnke at the time of their report about the first endocultivated bone (a jaw) in a human, published inthe Lancet in 2004. Both standing in front of the historic Kuntscher exhibition at Kiel Univ.