ORTHOPEDICS THIS WEEK VOLUME 13 , ISSUE 5 | FEBRUARY 14 , 2017 14
Real ( not Virtual ) Reality App Covers 100s of Cases ; Extremity War Injuries Symposium ; Andrews Institute Renovates Surgical Skills Lab
BY ELIZABETH HOFHEINZ , M . P . H ., M . ED .
App Shows Every Aspect of Cases !
It ’ s curated , it ’ s done by experts , and it ’ s free of charge . An international team of surgeons , including Jesse Jupiter , M . D ., a hand and upper extremity orthopedic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital , has developed a sophisticated online program and app that allows surgeons to view hundreds of real surgical cases from beginning until the final outcome .
Dr . Jupiter told OTW , “ I am working with colleagues from Uruguay ( Alberto Fernandez , M . D .) and Switzerland ( Stephan Perren , M . D . and Pietro Regazzoni , M . D .) to produce a surgical app called ICUC , which is now available for free on iTunes . It contains hundreds of case studies in their entirety , including indications , techniques , and surgical pitfalls .”
“ When demonstrating techniques or producing scientific publications you should be able to provide the entire scope of the material so that your thought process is transparent to a user . It is quite forward-thinking because patient information is typically presented as data ; rarely is every aspect of each case shown .”
“ Dr . Fernandez has documented a series of cases from start to finish ( original problem , X-rays , CT scans , intraoperative period , follow-up ). We then brought other surgeons on board ; now it has evolved to include online access for anyone . It continues to evolve , so there are more and more descriptions , literature , animation , etc .”
“ At present ICUC only addresses traumatic injuries and reconstruction . Let ’ s say you want to look at wrist fractures . You select what type of wrist fracture your patient has , click on a related case study , and it will give you ideas of possible approaches . You can follow along with the surgical technique and even look at missteps . For example , it might show that a metal plate and screws were put on , but the follow-up CT scan showed that one or two screws were not in the right position .”
“ The program includes discussion boards where physicians can talk about how to avoid missteps . And veteran surgeons offer their opinions as well … for example , I provide commentary on the upper extremity cases .”
“ There are many apps on surgical techniques and online programs where surgeons submit their presentations , but they are not critically analyzed . With ICUC there is an editorial process .”
“ The trend is that people want to access information at a click without spending
ICUC / Courtesy of ICUC and Pixabay
a lot of time . So now we are trying to make two different programs — one is the whole case from start to finish and the other is the condensed version .”
And the bonus ? There are no pop-up ads .
Extremity War Injuries Symposia Since 2006 the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons ( AAOS ), along with the Orthopaedic Trauma Association ( OTA ), the Society of Military Orthopaedic Surgeons ( SOMOS ), and the Orthopaedic Research Society ( ORS ) has sponsored an annual symposia entitled , “ Extremity War Injuries .” It is at these events that the stage is set for assessing the current state of care for injured soldiers , the definition of best practices , and the planning for advancing the direction of combat casualty care and injury rehabilitation .
For two days — January 31-February 1 , 2017 — approximately 110 civilian and military surgeons , rehabilitation specialists , and members of the research community gathered in Wash-
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