Welcome to the fourth edition of the Brussels Sonographically Guided Upper Limb Surgery Course.
As in the previous editions this course is only propose to orthopaedic or hand surgeons who wish to start or improve their use of sonography for interventional purposes.
There will be four sessions divided on four days over a period of five months intentionally widen to allow the participants to practice by themself between each courses. The sessions will begin the 23th of September with the first course that will be focus on the basics of sonography with the description of mains physical principles that are helpful to understand the limits and the possibilities of this tool. The technical aspect of the sonographic examination from the handling of the machine to the positioning of the probe to obtain an optimized images on the screen will be covered. The second course that will be held the 21th of October will focus the sonographic examination on the description of healthy anatomical structures in comparison with pathological one.
During the third course that will be held the 16th of December, interventional techniques will be detailed and participant will have the opportunity to practice on artificial models before applying these techniques on a cadaver hand during the last course the 03/02/2024.
The courses will be focused on the practical side of upper limb sonography as it is useful to improve the surgeon capabilities to assess and treat main clinical situations. Theory will be intentionally minimized in 10 to 15 minutes presentations from renowned experts preceding each hands-on session to allow participants to have a maximum time of practice.
Every participant will be grouped by pair according to their self assessed level in sonography and each pair will have access to two cadaveric specimens at the last course.
Because the number of places is limited (8 to 10 participants), the priority in registration will be based on a first arrived first served principle.
Because every anatomical structures are very superficials in hand and upper limb, sonography is a wonderful tool that will surely have central place in routine clinical practice as the third eye of upper limb surgeon. We hope these courses will give the opportunity to discover sonography and will be spark of the beginning of new skills in sonography guided upper limb surgery.
Fabian Moungondo and Luc Van Overstraeten