My visit to AAOS 2023 Annual Meeting and ASES Specialty Day

Jung-Taek Hwang MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery,
Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University Medical College

I was deeply moved to visit AAOS 2023 Annual Meeting and ASES Specialty Day held in Las Vegas for the first time in five years. Even though one podium and one poster were adopted in 2020, it was regrettable that the conference was canceled due to COVID-19, and it was new because it was the first overseas conference to go after the travel regulations due to COVID-19 were lifted. A speech on the effects of PDRN in the event of ARCR is scheduled for Wednesday at the AAOS annual meeting, arriving at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon to unwrap it at the Treasure Island Hotel. After sleeping for a while, I contacted professors from other hospitals at Hallym University who had been there in the evening and ate at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Grill. Tuesday's ASES specialty day is from the afternoon, so after sleeping in the morning, I briefly ate at a brunch restaurant called "Coffee Shop" on the first floor of the hotel and headed to the conference hall. The room of the ASES Society was full of U.S. shoulder & elbow surgeons, which made me realize its popularity. When I hurriedly occupied a few empty seats and looked around, I could recognize Professor Chul-Hyun Cho, Professor Yang-Soo Kim, and Professor Joo Han Oh. It's been a while since I've had an ASES conference, so I listened carefully. Five years ago, when I presented a PMRI paper on the elbow that I studied with Dr. O'Driscoll, there was one elbow session out of four free paper sessions, this time it was reduced to three and all about the shoulder. Probably, not many papers related to elbow were submitted this time. In the first free paper session, there was a study that presented the effect on estrogen and testosterone on rotator cuff of rats, and I wanted to ask because I thought the chronic tear model would be better than the acute tear model for this study, but I missed the chance to ask the question because of some hesitation. Leaving behind the disappointment, I decided to ask questions at the AAOS conference hall. Later on, Dr. O'Driscoll entered the conference hall, and there's a momentarily I approached him and greeted him warmly. Dr. O'Driscoll asked me if I had received an invitation for this Mayo Elbow Course, and I replied that I was grateful for inviting me to the instructor this time and would definitely attend. He said a short goodbye to me, who was busily leaving the conference hall, and I sat down again and listened to the conference presentation. I felt that the podiums of instability-related studies increased compared to other years. In the evening, I met Hallym University professors again and had a good time at a seafood restaurant, and after finishing my podium on Wednesday, I was able to resolve the regret of not being able to ask questions at the ASES conference by asking questions about three podiums at AAOS. What I felt this time is that when I ask questions at overseas conferences, the reason why a presenter can't understand is often because one lacks knowledge rather than because my English pronunciation is bad. It seems that there are many cases where fellows in the first and second years present it, so once I said one by one word again as if I were talking to an elementary school student, and I thought one heard it, but one couldn't answer, so a person who seemed to be a principal investigator answered instead. I realized that there was not much difference between the United States and Korea. With this realization, I was able to ask many questions at the International Conference of the KSES in Spring. In addition, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Professor Joo Han Oh for advising me at the Las Vegas Korean Orthopedic Surgeons Meeting, "If you are curious, ask me no matter what."