SICOT Events

Report on the
SICOT Young Surgeons’ Meeting,
28 February 2020

Ahmed H. Abdelazeem
SICOT Editorial Secretary

 

After the approval of the SICOT Executive Committee, it became a mission of the Young Surgeons Committee to arrange an annual international meeting for the trainees and young surgeons to run in parallel with the annual congress.

With perfect spring weather and at a fantastic panoramic hotel located in the city of Ismailia, directly on Temsah Lake and Suez Canal (one of the symbols of the Egyptian national pride; the first man-made waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea), the 26th International Young Surgeons’ meeting took place. It was done in cooperation with the 9th annual spring meeting of the Egyptian Orthopaedic Association (EOA).

 

Panoramic view of the venue in Ismailia, directly located on the Suez Canal in Egypt
 

The meeting plan was to copy and reproduce the YSC sessions done during the SICOT annual congresses in the last two years, following its success and positive feedback. With a focused theme, experts and distinguished lecturers presented updated keynote lectures followed by case presentations by young enthusiastic surgeons, which were then discussed with the experts.

With “The Knee” as the theme, a one-day meeting was done. International and national experts from SICOT and EOA shared their keynote lectures and panel discussions. Professors Rene Verdonk (Belgium) and Julio Fernandes (Canada) were our guest SICOT lecturers. Together with EOA and national SICOT experts more than 10 lectures were presented giving a full instructional knee course covering the osteotomies, traumatology, sports and arthroplasty.

 


One of the keynote talks by Professor Julio Fernandes (Canada)
 


Open discussion between the experts and the young surgeons on different cases presented
 
 

Professor Gamal Hosny (EOA President) to the right with the SICOT lecturers: Professors Rene Verdonk (Belgium) to the left and Julio Fernandes (Canada) in the middle

 

The meeting started at 09:00 and ended at 19:00. With a very busy and tight schedule, only a break of one and a half hours for lunch and coffee was allowed. This long day started with a lecture about SICOT activities and its vision in Africa, Near & Middle East by SICOT Vice-President for the region, Professor Essam Elsherif. This was followed by a presentation by me about YSC activities, as well as the idea and plan of the day.

Twenty-two young surgeons delivered twenty-five case presentations. Every surgeon took strictly 5 minutes to present his/her case followed by an open discussion with the panel and the floor. The presenters’ expertise level ranged from residents, in their early orthopaedic life, to junior consultants. Moreover, presenters came from all regions of Egypt: upper Egypt, Delta, Suez Canal cities, Northern coast and Cairo, plus a surgeon coming all the way from Germany. This really enriched the meeting and gave it a special taste of variability. All cases presented were subjected to an evaluation, including the scientific content and the presenter performance. Furthermore, a practical part was added to the middle of the meeting consisting of a demonstration workshop on dry bone, covering the basic principles of total knee arthroplasty followed by an open discussion between young generations and experts exchanging their tips and tricks in this procedure. At the end of the meeting and the closing ceremony, five awards (each worth EGP 2,000) under the name of the SICOT Vice-President, Professor Essam Elsherif, were awarded to the best presenters.

 


An end of the day photo: organizers, SICOT and EOA lecturers and prize winners

 

The day was very successful and fulfilled its targeted goals. These types of meetings are done to train the young physicians how to prepare work, present it in front of experts and audiences as well as discuss, defend and debate. Several remarks were given to the young generation to help them do it better in the future. Most remarks were focused on the speed in which they were talking, and the lack of long-term follow-up for the cases. However, what was appreciated the most was how excited and eager the young surgeons were to stand and present what they were doing or attending.

Some comments about the meeting:

“Great cases and great solutions were hand in hand during this event. High standards were the rule during the meeting. Cosy meeting and family atmosphere. I’d be back any time…!” Julio Fernandes (SICOT National Representative, Canada)
“Very well organized SICOT Trainees Meeting ...it’s very nice to see the enthusiastic young surgeons present and discuss their cases and get prepared for the future ...” Hatem Said (SICOT EC Member at Large and SICOT-J Editor in Chief)
“The spring meeting of EOA was a real opportunity for us to host the SICOT young generation gathering. I enjoyed very much the cases presented, discussion and the fantastic contribution of Rene and Julio. We are looking for more cooperation with SICOT. It seems that the young generation did a great job and we are very proud of them. My message to them is keep moving on, keep knocking doors, find the impossible chances.” Gamal Hosny (EOA President)
“Dear colleagues from Egypt and the whole world, I wanted to thank you for the wonderful congress in Ismailia! You gave me a very warm welcome and it was a pleasure to meet you. I hope that we can form a strong surgical network and I am looking forward to the next meeting of the SICOT Young Surgeons!” Christina Polens (Participant and SICOT YSC member – Germany)
“It was great to observe such a distinguished group of young surgeons, their excellent presentations and really outstanding performance. Most of them were above the expected standard to the degree that we, as a board committee, found great difficulty in choosing the best presented papers, so we decided to award five instead of two as planned.” Essam Elsherif (SICOT Vice-President for Africa, Near & Middle East)