11/09/07 – 12/09/07

Chicago

Flying into Chicago on the 6th anniversary of the Twin Towers attack was unsurprisingly delayed by some heightened security. When we eventually arrived, we joined host Wayne Paprosky at the Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield Illinois. This was a very smart private hospital with the plushest theatre coffee room I have ever seen. Dr Parosky was doing a series of THRs through a mini posterior approach, again with 2 fellows in 2 theatres. He used a stem he has designed called the Epoch, which is a scratch-fit, composite, isoelastic stem with a full coating, requiring power reaming of the proximal shaft. The theory behind the modulus of elasticity is a reduction in thigh pain.

Whilst being driven through Chicago later that evening, we were stopped by the raising of one of the huge bridges, but despite our encouragements, Dr Paprosky was unwilling to recreate the scene from Blues Brothers to prove whether his Merc had “pick-up”.

The following day was spent at Rush Medical Centre in Chicago, starting with the arthroplasty meeting with Drs Paprosky, Jacobs, Galante & Della Vale, a pretty impressive crew, before theatre to see minimally invasive hips & knees performed with instruments designed in their department.