Navigation
6th International IMLAS Congress - Sydney, Australia, April 20-21, 1999
Report by Robert Jackson
With the co-operation of SICOT and particularly with the help of the Vice President of SICOT, Dr. Chad Smith, the 1999 IMLAS meeting was held in Sydney, Australia. The techniques, limitations and benefits of laser surgery were therefore displayed to approximately 5000 orthopaedic and trauma surgeons from around the world, who attended the SICOT meeting.
On Sunday, April, 18, 1999, the opening ceremonies of SICOT were held. The following day on Monday, April, 1999, a special evening was held at the new Olympic Complex, the site of the summer Olympics in 2000. The participants travelled to this party via the river route and after visiting some of the Olympic facilities, a dinner with entertainment which included Aboriginal song and dance numbers was held in a large arena.
On Tuesday morning, April 20, 1999, Dr. Robert W. Jackson gave a Current Trends Lecture entitled "Lasers in Orthopaedic Surgery". This was well attended. The IMLAS Executive Committee convened at noon that day for a luncheon meeting, and conducted the business of the organization over the next three hours.
A "Symposium on Lasers" was presented at 4.00 p.m. on that day. Dr. Bruno Gerber spoke about the basic aspects of lasers and described some important basic research. Professor Werner Siebert spoke on laser applications in knee surgery. Dr. Stephen Abelow described the use of lasers in shoulder surgery, and Mr. Martin Knight described the rapidly advancing use of lasers in spinal surgery. The Symposium was chaired by Dr. Chad Smith.
That evening a reception and banquet for IMLAS members was held at Bono’s Italian Restaurant in the downtown area of Sydney. The jewel of office, a beautiful pendant designed and created by our colleagues in Colombia, was passed from our outgoing president, Professor Werner Siebert, to our incoming president, Mr. Martin Knight. Guests of IMLAS at the banquet were D. James Tasto, President of the Arthroscopy Association of North America and Dr. Gonzalo Vasquez-Vela, Vice President of SICOT, with their beautiful wives. The exceptionally fine evening was entirely supported by Mitek Corporation.
The following day, Wednesday, April 21, 1999, was devoted to presentations from our own members. Twenty one superb papers were selected for presentation, out of 72 submissions. The question and answer periods were filled with good discussion. At the conclusion of the academic session, our annual business meeting was held. That evening a special ballet program was enjoyed by the membership at the Sydney Opera House.
The SICOT meeting continued for two more days, then many of the members proceeded to post Congress tours of the Barrier Reef, the Daintree Rainforest, Ayers Rock, or visits to other major cities in Australia.
It was generally agreed that our affiliation with SICOT was of value, both to IMLAS and to SICOT. It was felt that this association should be continued at the next meeting, which will be held in three years in San Diego. Dr. Chad Smith will be Chairman of the SICOT meeting and Dr. James Tasto has agreed to head the Local Arrangements Committee for the IMLAS programme.