The Last Frontier
Alaska Arthroscopy Workshop '98
The objective of this course was to conduct a workshop in arthroscopy of the shoulder and knee for a group of Japanese orthopedic surgeons. The course instructors were Dr. David McGuire from Anchorage Alaska, and Dr. Don Johnson from Ottawa Canada. Linvatec sponsored the meeting.
Alaska Arthroscopy Workshop '99
This year's workshop had 15 surgeons participate in a knee and shoulder hands on arthroscopy workshop. The venue was the Quinnat Landing Hotel in King Salmon. The hotel is right on the river with the guides and the boats a few minutes walk from the front door of the hotel.
The teaching sessions were divided between didactic lectures and a hands on cadaver workshop covering both knee and shoulder. The equipment and cadavers was organized by Linvatec Corp. The atmosphere was informal with lots of opportunity for questions and answers. It is a course that encourages close interaction between the faculty and the participants. The faculty was Dr. David McGuire from Anchorage, Dr. Don Johnson from Ottawa Canada, and Dr. Jeff Abrams from Princeton NJ and Dr. Son from Korea. The participants had the opportunity to fish with the faculty, flight see in David's float plane or take tours to see the bears at Brooks. The wives and families also took advantage of these side trips. Most of us saw just as many bears around the hotel !! The fishing this year was spotty, but most of us managed to catch a few sliver salmon. This is an ideal course if you need to upgrade your arthroscopy skills and have always wanted to go to Alaska and try your hand at salmon fishing. If you are interested, contact your Linvatec sales representative.
Anchorage - Alaska
We arrived and departed from Anchorage, the float plane capital of the world. The Regal Alaskan Hotel allows a great view of Lake Hood, where there is a constant stream of float planes arriving and departing.
The Venue - Quinnat Landing Hotel - King Salmon
What a great venue for a meeting! 1998 was the first time that I had the opportunity to visit King Salmon. There is lots of adventure activity for the whole family.The meeting was held at the Quinnat Landing Hotel in King Salmon. The flight from Anchorage was about 45 minutes by jet. In '98 we arrived in rain and 40 mph wind, what a welcome to Alaska. In '99, it was 75*, sunny and buggy. The Quinat landing hotel is right on the Naknek river, and fishing is just a few minutes out the front door. The chef was fantastic; the fresh caught salmon was the best that I have ever had.
This is such a great venue that we are already planning the next meeting as an Alaska adventure arthroscopy workshop. I think that there are many surgeons who would like to have the opportunity to improve their skills in both arthroscopy and fly fishing. The course can be tailored to suit there level of skill in arthroscopy - design your own lab, and include plenty of fishing, bearing watching, and flight seeing. If you are interested contact your local Linvatec sales representative.
The King Salmon - Naknek River Basin is home to many bald eagles and also the fast flying interceptor F-15 Eagle. Each summer the Naknek River is host to millions of salmon - including sockeye, king, silvers and chum; as well as rainbows, arctic char, northern pike and grayling. The surrounding area has volcanic mountains - the worlds largest brown bears, moose, thousands of caribou, wolverines, wolves, lynx, and fox. The eagles know that there is more here than meets the eye.
The ladies also can enjoy sight seeing tours that leave from the hotel. The picture above shows the ladies relaxing in the bar under the tarpon that Patti caught. What do you mean by male bonding?
The accommodation for the faculty was a bit rough for the Princeton guys. Also note that the weather can be warm, 70* and sunny or cold, windy and rainy. Be prepared, this is Alaska.
The Course '98
The course was held in the meeting room of the hotel, with simultaneous translation into Japanese.
The participants:
Dr. Takashi Shiroma,Urasoe General Hospital. Dr Kenji Fujita, Kobe University. Dr. Masaaki Kobayashi, Hino Memorial Hospital
Agenda
The arthroscopy course consisted of both didactic lecture / seminars and a hands on design your own lab with cadaver specimens.
Knee
Didactic session - Meniscus repair -ACL reconstruction with patellar tendon and semi-tendinosusLab session - Basic setup - Meniscus repair -ACL Reconstruction with patellar tendon and semi-tendinosus
Shoulder
Didactic session - anterior stabilization of the shoulder and Bankart repair - impingement syndrome
arthroscopic cuff repair - SLAP lesion
Lab session - Basic setup - Subacromial decompression - Anterior stabilization - SLAP lesion and Bankart repairs - Arthroscopic / mini open cuff repairThe lectures were simultaneously translated into Japanese by Yuri Kitayama .
The Lab allowed for plenty of time to design your own lab with a one on one instructor experience.
Translation - Fashion comes to King Salmon
The translation was done by Yuri Kitayama, who arrived in spiked high heel shoes. This was difficult to get to the dock without falling between the planks.
The '99 course.
The knee lectures by MacGuire, Johnson and Son, covered meniscal repair, graft choice in ACL reconstruction, ACL reconstruction with patellar tendon and semitendinosus, and ACL complications. Dr. Son presented another method of femoral fixation of semi-t with a large screw in device that anchors on the exterior cortex of the femur. He also presented some lab studies showing that the strongest fixation for meniscal repair is the vertical sutures. The bioabsorbable devices are considerably weaker. The message from this presentation was to use a combination of sutures and arrows when performing meniscal repair.
In the lab the participants had the opportunity to do both sutures and biostingers for meniscal repair. ACL reconstruction was done with both the semi-t and patellar tendon grafts. Both were fixed with bioscrews. A demonstration of PCL reconstruction using the versatile quads tendon graft was also done.
The shoulder lectures by Jeff Abrams covered the basic diagnostic arthroscopy of the shoulder, rotator cuff repair, SLAP repair, instability repair and subacromial decompression. In the shoulder lab the participants had the opportunity to use the anchors, pass sutures with the suture passers, and to tie knots.
The Fishing Experience
The fishing was only average at this time of the year. (late August) There were no Kings, but the silver salmon were still plentiful, a couple of groups managed to catch 10-12 each time out. Kenji and I managed to catch a couple, which was a first for him. They put up a great fight. No wonder David thinks that bass are kind of lame to catch. We were able to have the fish cleaned, cooked and served for dinner that night.
In '99 the sliver run was late and the fishing was spotty. Most of us managed to get some slivers. The guides will always tell you that last week, last year was better, but that's the inconsistency of fishing. Most of time in the boat is spent bonding, and the fishing is secondary.
Flight Seeing with David and the Beaver
What a thrill! David has the best beaver in Alaska. This plane is the ultimate flying machine. He has a GPS display in the cockpit that shows the planes position and the terrain. This takes all the fun out of getting lost. We flew over to Brooks park to see the bears, and on the way experienced lots of other sights, moose, bears, and volcanoes.
Brooks National Park
Brooks National Park is a huge wilderness park, about 20 minutes flying time from King Salmon, that has the best bear watching in Alaska. Unfortunately on this trip we were skunked, and did not see any at the falls. Those who made the trip yesterday were lucky, and saw a mother a 2 cubs catching salmon at the falls. David took us on a flight up to 10,000 smokes, and on the way we spotted many bears feeding in the river. There are more fly fisherman that fish on this river!
The Glaciers
We took a quick flight on Ellison Airways from Anchorage up to see the glaciers . Takes about 2 hours and is highly recommended. If you have all day in Anchorage, you can take a train and then a cruise ship to view the glaciers up close.
Aboriginal Art
I have had a long interest in native art. It is remarkable how similar the aboriginal masks are from around the world. Here are some examples that I found in Alaska. Click here to see more comparison masks.
The Quotes
For protection against the bears, you should carry a sawed off shotgun with a pistol grip rather than a 357 magnum. If you carry the 357 mag you should file off the sights, so that when the bear shoves it where the sun doesn't shine, it won't hurt so much!
The commonest objects seen in bear dung are bells and whistles.
David's advice during arthroscopy, "Don’t eat the scope with the shaver"
On looking for bears at the dump at night " there ain't no bears here" Followed shortly after by a huge bear roar and the sounds of running feet.
