News

The European Society for Surgery of the Shoulder and the Elbow (SECEC/ESSSE) has recognised our Shoulder and Elbow Surgery department, which is led by Prof. Dr. med. Markus Scheibel, as an SECEC/ESSSE Teaching Centre. Schulthess Klinik is delighted to have received the recognition required to become such a Teaching Centre, and looks forward to making an even greater contribution to training shoulder and elbow surgeons at European level.

A newly developed cartilage repair procedure has shown promising results in terms of repairing damage to knee cartilage. Cartilage chip implantation involves mechanically crushing the patient’s own cartilage tissue into “chips”. These are mixed with the patient’s own blood, which has been prepared beforehand, and then reused.

The Isoforce outrigger was launched internationally on 11 June. This outrigger for hand splints was developed in partnership between Schulthess Klinik and ETH Zurich for use in ergotherapy.

In 2020, which was a particularly challenging year on account of the pandemic, the 1,112 employees at Schulthess Klinik showed how positive results can be achieved with team spirit, commitment, flexibility and plenty of new ideas. This enabled the clinic to live up to the trust of its patients and referring physicians even during the Covid crisis and almost match last year’s figures.

A study of our hand surgery has won the 2020 JHSE Editors' Award. This prestigious prize is conferred by the Journal of Hand Surgery (European Volume) and went to our team for the second time in a row.

One year after their hip operation, most patients are satisfied with the result, with many even declaring that they are very satisfied. Patients with concomitant diseases can still expect a similar improvement in terms of hip function. However, this group of patients has a somewhat increased risk of complications. This was the conclusion reached by our research team, which investigated the connection between comorbidities, the risk of complications and the patient’s perceptions of osteoarthritis-related hip surgery.

Ossifications of muscles, tendons or connective tissue sometimes occur around a newly implanted hip prosthesis. The reasons for these changes are generally unclear. Our research team has investigated the influence of these ossifications on patients' perception and satisfaction.

On 19 January, the world’s first implant of a KeriFlex finger prosthesis was performed at Schulthess Klinik. Dr. med. Daniel Herren MHA, our Head of Hand Surgery, assisted with the development of this prosthesis for patients experiencing painful deterioration of their proximal interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal joints as the result of accident or illness.

On 6 January 2021, our Co-Head of Hip Surgery, Hannes Rüdiger, was appointed as an adjunct professor at the University of Zurich. This title serves as recognition of his achievements in both science and teaching over the last few years.

Our hand surgeons use the CapFlex prosthesis developed at our clinic to treat many cases of osteoarthritis in the interphalangeal joints. After over ten years of working with the implant and more than 330 CapFlex prostheses implanted at the Schulthess Klinik, we have now published the initial findings in a renowned international journal, five years after surgery.