100 Years of Arthroscopy at Cantonal Hospital Aarau

A 100 years ago, the Swiss surgeon Dr. Eugen Bircher performed what were probably the first knee arthroscopies on patients at the Cantonal Hospital Aarau. Since then, arthroscopies of almost all larger joints have been established and are considered standard procedures. Cantonal Hospital of Aarau celebrated the occasion by providing residents an arthroscopy course including fundamental skills training and advanced workshop on the knee, shoulder, and hip. VirtaMed was proud to train junior surgeons on our ArthroS™ simulators alongside DePuy Synthes models.

The one-day course was compact and very practically oriented, offering a well-founded insight into the arthroscopy of the three large joints. With sufficient model and simulator workstations provided by VirtaMed and DePuy Synthes, everyone got to train their basic skills in small groups under the supervision of Dr. Lorenz Büchler, Dr. Richard Glaab, and Dr. Patrick Grüninger.

In the morning, the residents worked together on the basics using the knee and the FAST modules. In the afternoon, they got to choose a joint (shoulder, hip, or knee) and practice that joint's specifics in small groups. The course was based on the structured training curriculum of the Society for Arthroscopy and Joint Surgery (AGA) and was fully creditable.