The Adult Reconstructive Surgery Service at the MGH is under the direction of Dr. Andrew Freiberg, Service Chief and Department Vice-Chair. Our success this past year was multilateral with gains in clinical activity, research productivity, and faculty recruitment. The Service continues to be a leader in the orthopaedic community, delivering the most up-to-date surgical techniques, evaluation of problem joint replacements, and advanced treatments for infection and peri-prosthetic fractures.

We had a wonderful year in terms of increased productivity and efficiency, with over 1,500 hip and knee arthroplasties performed. In addition, we are proud and excited to announce that Dr. William Healy has joined the MGOA and his practice will be located at the Kaplan Center and NWH. Dr. Healy is a nationally and internationally recognized surgeon and leader in hip and knee reconstructive surgery. The combination of his skills and knowledge is a great asset to our clinical program.

The Adult Reconstructive Surgery Service had another outstanding year at the annual meetings of the Orthopaedic Research Society, The Knee Society, The Hip Society, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and the American Academy of Hip and Knee Surgeons. Our group had numerous podium and poster presentations at these meetings, and it was rewarding to see the academic successes and the presence of so many former fellows. Dr. Freiberg served as Program Chair for the annual AAHKS meeting in Dallas, at which a record number of papers and posters were presented and attendance was the highest ever. Many of our faculty presented important clinical and scientific information; a highlight was a keynote address by Dr. Young-Min Kwon on Metal/Metal total hip replacement failure mechanisms. Dr. Rubash was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the Hip Society and will continue in a national leadership role over the next few years.

Our collaboration with the Bioengineering Laboratory, under the direction of Dr. Guoan Li, is ongoing as we do the groundwork to study new robotic techniques that can be applied to hip and knee surgery. We are confident that these exciting discoveries will translate into a major clinical program. In addition, extensive work with the Harris Orthopaedic Laboratory (HOL) continues as we finish recruitment into our large “Vitamin-E Highly Cross-linked Polyethylene RSA” study and the “MGH Administered International Multi-Center” study. We continue to focus on the extensive evaluation of retrieved cross-linked liners from hip and knee patients. We have contributed a significant proportion of cases to the National Total Joint Registry and continue to work with our colleagues at the Mayo Clinic to make this Registry successful.

This year marks our 51st Fellowship Class and some significant changes in our program have occurred. Dr. Young-Min Kwon was appointed as Fellowship Director and Dr. Hany Bedair was appointed as Director, Arthroplasty Fellowship Education. Although Dr. Andrew Freiberg continues to work closely on all administrative matters, including education and fellow supervision, these new faculty members provide fresh energy and ability. Our fellows this year were Drs. Ravi Bashyal, James Eberhardt, Bryan Lawless, and Scott Foster. Dr. Bashyal is practicing at Northshore University Health System in Chicago, Illinois; Dr. Eberhardt is practicing at Oakwood Medical Center in Brownstown, Michigan; Dr. Lawless is practicing at Elliot Orthopaedics in Manchester, New Hampshire; and, Dr. Foster is practicing at MedCentral Orthopaedic Institute in Mansfield, Ohio. We wish them all great success as they enter practice.