Message from IAA President

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to communicate with you as President, Indian Arthroplasty Association. I wish to convey my heartfelt thanks to all of you for this opportunity. India is just winning over the most deadly Covid pandemic of the Century with over 100 Crore vaccinations to our credit till date. India has gone ahead in leaps and bounds in all arenas including the field of arthroplasty. Skill set is noteworthy amongst Indian surgeons. In last 30 years, the development in the field of arthroplasty has been tremendous. There has been significant improvement in instrumentation (including Patient Specific Instrumentation), implant designs and newer technologies. Robotic Surgery has taken over the Computer Assisted Arthroplasty. Apart from the development of the engineering aspect of the arthroplasty, the surgical techniques have improved further and the pain management has come to the forefront. Now for hip, knee and shoulder arthroplasty, a safe and easy recovery can be stated with better conviction. Total Elbow Arthroplasty has also shown good success. In knee arthroplasty, newer alignment concept “Kinematic alignment” is being experimented. In design, “Mobile bearing implants” have progressed from LCS knee to PFC RP to PFC RPF and now PS-150. High flexion designs have become the norm almost with all implant companies. We hope that cementless knee implants will soon be introduced in India too. There has also been paradigm shift in costing of the implants with Government of India fixing cost of the knee implants to an extent.

Many known technologies have failed as well. Commonly known is the Metal on Metal articulation and surface hip arthroplasty, though Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) is still holding the ground to some extent.

We as IAA, are now 690 strong body of ace orthopaedic surgeons. In my tenure as President, I will try to do my bit and introduce some newer dimensions with primary focus on education and making the organization strong by an inclusive growth.

We will continue the monthly IAA webinars every third Thursday of the month with focused topics. First one will be on "Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty - Acetabular Defects" on 25th November, 2021. At least three webinars will be decided and announced in advance so that members can plan their time for participation accordingly. It will be beamed on Zoom and YouTube simultaneously and will also be available in member section of our website "www.indianarthroplastyassociation.com" which can be accessed by members when they wish.

Forthcoming IAA monthly Webinars: Every Thursday 7pm. Duration 90 minutes.

  • Nov 25 Thursday 7:00-8:30 Revision Total Hip Arthroplasty - Acetabular Defects
    Convener: Dr Y Kharbanda, New Delhi
  • Dec 16 Thursday 7:00-8:30 My worst case in TKR and lessons learned
    Convener: Dr Rakesh Rajput, Kolkata
  • Jan 20 Thursday 7:00-8:30 Hip Instability
    Convener: Dr Manuj Wadhwa, Chandigarh

We will focus on e-education through our You tube channel and member section of Website and try to give a unique learning experience to our members. IAA Newsletter will be published quarterly; efforts are to start Indian Arthroplasty Journal which will be published twice a year. Dr Anoop Jhurrani has already begun the work in this direction and achieved some success already. IAA will be welcoming a midterm meeting also every year, if opted by members. Fellowship program will be strengthened further with introduction of new fellowships including industry sponsored programs, within the country and abroad. During our deliberations we have realised that IAA being the national body should have a robust Constitution. The present one is almost 25 years old. With a team of six very senior and able colleagues, lot of effort is being made in this direction. The final draft will be presented to Executive Body of IAA in next 3 months, which thereafter will be circulated to all the members for their comments and approval.

Hope to have a good and meaningful academic discussion in time to come.

You may reach me through website or my personal email "rks@drsharma.info" for any suggestions.

Best wishes to all.

Dr Rajeev K Sharma
President, IAA

Dr Rajeev K Sharma President, IAA