Miller School Orthopaedic Experts Highlight Advances at Collaborative Symposium

The latest advances in knee and hip arthroplasty, joint preservation, hip arthroplasty, sports medicine, recovery protocols, spine surgery, and more were highlighted at the recent Seventh Annual Winter Technology and Innovation in Orthopedics Symposium, sponsored in part by the University of Miami Health System.

Dr. Lee Kaplan speaking at orthopedics symposium
Orthopaedic surgeon Lee Kaplan, M.D., M.H.C.M., speaking at symposium

The event was hosted by the Hospital for Special Surgery Florida, and also included experts from Cleveland Clinic Florida and Holy Cross Orthopedic Institute.

“It was a high-level meeting,” said orthopaedic surgeon Lee Kaplan, M.D., M.H.C.M., director of the University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute. “Participating in collaborative sessions with other leaders at other institutions shows that the University of Miami has gained in terms of local and national reputation.

“We were really leaders at the meeting in terms of the level of difficulty of cases and patients that we see in Miami,” added Dr. Kaplan, who is also professor of orthopaedics, biomedical engineering, and kinesiology and sports sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

The two-day meeting was held in Fort Lauderdale and included updates for subspecialists across the field. “Orthopedics is very specialized,” Dr. Kaplan said. For this reason, separate tracks focused on new techniques and technologies for sports medicine experts, knee and hip specialists, shoulder clinicians, and — for this first time at the growing annual conference — spine surgery specialists.

The Latest in Sports Medicine

The latest in management of hip instability in the athlete, diagnosis and management of core muscle injuries, and return-to-sport protocols after hip and core surgery were considered in the sports management sessions.

“I ran a session with Drew Rosenhaus, an NFL agent; John Beason, a former NFL player; and Luis Feigenbaum [PT, senior associate athletic director, performance, health, and wellness at the University of Miami], talking about player injuries with the player’s viewpoint on it, the agent’s viewpoint on it, and changes over time,” Dr. Kaplan said. “That was very good.”

Another highlight was a “very good conversation about revision ACL surgery,” Dr. Kaplan said. “We had one of the world’s experts from New York, David Altchek, M.D., and Mike Baraga, M.D., from University of Miami. They did a great job talking about different treatment options for those injuries.”

Early intervention on knee and hip joint issues, evolution of surgical approaches, and illustrative case presentations were among presentations for knee and hip clinicians. High points shared during the shoulder sessions included same-day arthroplasty guidance, the role of orthobiologics in shoulder surgery, and innovations in upper extremity fractures.

Spine specialists discussed new practice models, new spine fusion technologies, and the role for artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and machine learning, among other topics.

Other Miller School faculty sharing their expertise at the conference included Francis John Hornicek, Jr., M.D., Ph.D.; Thomas Best, M.D.; Jaime Carvajal Alba, M.D.; and Victor Hernandez, M.D., M.S.

Tags: arthroplasty, Department of Orthopaedics, Dr. Jaime Carvajal Alba, Dr. Lee Kaplan, Dr. Mike Baraga, sports medicine, University of Miami Sports Medicine Institute