World's leading knee surgeons to attend international scientific symposium in Dubai

The two-day educational meeting will bring together surgeons to share the latest developments in the field and to explore new techniques such as Minimal Invasive Surgery (MIS) and new technology including the latest knee joint implants. The
participants will also have the opportunity to watch a live knee replacement operation using minimally invasive surgery performed at the hospital and relayed to the gathering via video link.

The symposium will be chaired by Dr Samih Tarabichi, Director of the Total Joint Replacement Regional Center of Excellence (one of only four in the world) at the American Hospital Dubai, who will moderate several sessions and also perform the live surgery. The center serves the joint replacement surgical training needs for physicians in the Middle East, Africa and the Mediterranean basin.

The specific demands of knee surgery patients in the Middle East region, based on religious and cultural requirements, will be the specific subject of a session chaired by Dr Tarabichi on 'The unique Middle Eastern knee'.

The focus of the 'The unique Middle Eastern knee' session will be the specific needs of patients in the Middle East - typically, patients in the region need to be able to pray five times per day and be able to sit on the ground comfortably, when socializing. For surgeons using knee implants, this demand means that the new joint implant must flex fully to allow the full movement of the leg, and to allow patients to meet their religious and social obligations.

Dr Samih Tarabichi, Director of the Total Joint Replacement Regional Center of Excellence at the American Hospital Dubai, who will perform the live surgery at the symposium, says: 'The conference will focus on full flex knee surgery and the Minimal Invasive Surgery (MIS) procedure, which reduces trauma and pain for the patient, offers quicker recovery and a better aesthetic outcome.

The technique is more prominent in Europe and it is not an easy option but we have already performed over 1,200 knee replacement procedures at the American hospital Dubai using MIS.

'We will also look at the latest replacement knee implants - for example, of the 2,000 joint replacement patients we have treated at the American Hospital Dubai, 70% have been women. There is now a new knee joint implant designed specifically for the female patient, which allows a better fit and result,' adds Dr Tarabichi.

'25 years ago, patients here would have opted to go to London or Paris for this procedure but the facilities in the region are now first class and a surgeon now has a choice of over 100 different knee implants to meet the specific needs of the patient, as the technology continues to develop quickly.'

The symposium will be held at the hospital's new, state of the art auditorium, which creates adds a new education and training facility for the region's physician community, and with its AV links, allows live surgery to be used as a training tool.

The Total Joint Replacement Regional Center of Excellence has recently been expanded to create new facilities for additional research, such as with the 'Gait Lab', and enhanced patient tracking activity, which will also improve patient services.

In addition to his distinguished surgical career, Dr Tarabichi has patented two devices in the US which are currently used in joint surgery; he is also the Middle East edition editor of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.