Carlos Urrea/ Dr. Sabrina Strickland: Week 4

 This week marks the halfway mark of the immersion program and I am grateful for being able to learn so much about orthopedics during this time. The week started by attending a bone course organized by HSS and Cornell collaboration: the Center for Advanced Materials and Engineering in Orthopaedics (CAMEO) where we got to hear lectures from clinical and engineering experts about bone development, mechanics, repair, and more. This was an exciting opportunity where I got to hear from leading experts in the field of orthopaedics and take home a strong foundation in biomechanics. On Tuesday, I continued to work in the biomechanics laboratory on my project investigating how to repair posterior medial meniscal root repairs since this tears are the most common root tear due to it being the weaker meniscal attachment. On Wednesday, I shadowed Dr Strickland in the clinic and got to see the confidence patients put on the course of treatment and got interested in how the treatment is adjusted according to each patients' repair progression, living situation and activity goals. On Thursday, I was able to shadow both Dr. Strickland and Dr. Gomoll in the OR where the highlight was being able to observe a meniscal root repair surgery. I was surprised by Dr. Gomoll's technique but also by how the repair itself was done and barely any measurements were made to restore patient's native biomechanics. I was interested by these approach and asked Dr. Gomoll about it where he explained how common treatment for these types of tears is not as standardized due to differences in patients anatomy, tear classification and meniscal comorbidities. Finally, on Friday I worked on research from home and performed a literature review.

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