Three orthopaedists of the Hip Surgery Department from the PLA General Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in China, were in Lisbon, on the 27 and 28 May, to follow hip deformity correction surgeries in young adults , performed by Paulo Rego . The good results obtained and the long experience in hip preservation surgery of the team led by the director of Orthopaedics at Hospital da Luz Lisboa – with around a thousand hip surgeries of this kind carried out these last 19 years – make Hospital da Luz Lisboa an experienced international centre in this field . The hip joint preservation surgery is the most adequate solution in adolescent and young adult patients, in alternative to the placement of a prosthesis. “With this set of surgical techniques, we are able to preserve the hip joint, improve the quality of life of patients with hip deformity, and delay the degenerative alterations that lead to the placement of a prosthesis”, explains Paulo Rego. Hong Zhang, Jian-li Zhang and Hui Cheng have been dedicated for years now in their hospital to this kind of surgery and are presently taking a professional tour through several European centres – in Italy, Switzerland, Portugal and Spain – to “exchange experiences”. In Lisbon, the three orthopaedic surgeons had the opportunity to attend four surgeries to patients with hip dysplasia and Perthes disease sequelae, with ages between 19 and 29. “We have been performing this surgery for many years now in China, with a volume of around 600 cases a year. But we want to stay updated, learn what is being done on hip preservation surgery all over the word and see if it is very distinct from the technique we use”, states Hong Zhang, explaining the reasons that brought the group to Lisbon. “We have many children with hip disorders needing surgery, and the prosthesis is not the most indicated solution, for they are still under development. Our goal is to preserve the hip as much as possible, until a prosthesis can be placed. This is, in fact, very important for our patients, but it happens that we are short of physicians performing this surgery. In reality, this is a much complex intervention, compared to the placement of a prosthesis”, further explains Hong Zhang. The number of surgeries of this kind carried out at Hospital da Luz Lisboa is much lower compared to the reality in Beijing, but “the high number of surgeries is not the most relevant”, as she stresses. “The quality of the technique is what interests us and what we came here to see”. “We have received a few international surgeons much interested in following our work”, declares Paulo Rego. “Such interactions frequently result, besides the sharing of experiences, in important connexions in the training area, which is always fruitful for both parts. Therefore, we are always interested and open to this kind of visits”, he adds. In the photo above, Hong Zhang, Hui Cheng, Jian-li Zhang and Paulo Rego.
