I recently returned from Austin Texas, site of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand Annual Meeting. This was the first time the meeting was held in Austin but I am sure we will be back. I thought the overall meeting was really well done with a great mix of scientific content and review materials.
I want to briefly highlight some of the events regarding congenital hand and upper extremity differences.
Scott Oishi from Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas led a Symposium on “What I Have Learned’ on Congenital Differences. There were talks on the timing of surgery, (Oishi) radial polydactyly (thumb duplication) (Steven Hovius from Rotterdam, The Netherlands), radial longitudinal dysplasia (Michelle James, Northern California Shriners Hospital), toe transfers (Scott Kozin, Philadelphia Shriners Hospital) and syndactyly (mine). I learned from each speaker including new techniques.
We had an Instructional Course on What Works for Congenital Differences. This was a great course with participants Doug Hutchinson, Michelle James, Ann Van Heest, and Darryl Chew (Singapore) with talks on common issues (trigger thumb) and rare conditions (central polydactyly).
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| Group for ICL |
And finally, I was able to present the Manske Award for the Best Congenital Hand Surgery Manuscript for 2015. This award is presented on behalf on the Pediatric Hand Study Group and former fellows of Dr Manske. This is the fifth year of the award with previous winners from across the world (Sweden, India, and England) on topics such as radial deficiency, multiple hereditary exostosis, and social adaptation. This year’s winner was “Tendon Transfer Surgery in Upper-Extremity Cerebral Palsy Is More Effective Than Botulinum Toxin Injections or Regular, Ongoing Therapy” by authors Van Heest, Bagley, Molitor, and James. The paper found that surgery provided improved outcomes (modest) compared to botulinum toxin and ongoing therapy. Ann Van Heest accepted the award on behalf of her co-authors.
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| Manske Award Presentation to Ann Van Heest |
Charles A. Goldfarb, MD
My Bio at Washington University
congenitalhand@wudosis.wustl.edu