Draft:International Wrist Arthroscopy Society



The International Wrist Arthroscopy Society (IWAS) is an international medical society with over 400 members. IWAS is affiliated with the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand (FESSH), the Asia-Pacific Wrist Association (APWA), the Latin American Wrist Association (LAWA), the North American Wrist Association (NAWA) and the African Wrist Association (AWA).The society membership comprises mostly orthopedic surgeons along with a smaller number of plastic surgerons with an interest in the wrist. The members are from more than 60 different countries, with the highest membership from Europe. Members may also be associated with their global regional wrist societies, including African and national hand surgery hand surgery societies.

Arthroscopy
Arthroscopy (also termed arthroscopic or keyhole surgery) is a minimally invasive surgical procedure on a joint that can be performed to provide diagnostic information or treatment.

A wrist arthroscope (a type of endoscope) is a camera of narrow diameter (1.9-2.7 mm) that is used to visualise the inside the wrist (a synovial joint) via small skin incisions. The use of wrist arthroscopy as a therapeutic intervention has expanded widely since its adoption as a diagnostic tool in the 1980s and 1990s.

Treatment indications include wrist ganglion resection, triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC) repair or reconstruction, scapholunate ligament repair or reconstruction, assisting distal radius fracture fixation, and various treatments for wrist osteoarthritis (such as radial styloidectomy). Terry Whipple and Jack Powell, surgeons from the United States of America, were early pioneers of wrist arthroscopy and defined safe wrist arthroscopy portal sites following cadaveric dissection, and advocated the use of limb traction using finger traps (Whipple et al).

Aims
The aims of IWAS is to facilitate advances in all aspects of wrist and hand surgery and arthroscopy, including:


 * 1) Spreading knowledge and education through publications, courses and scientific meetings.
 * 2) Facilitating the personal collaboration of hand surgeons and their medical and corporate partners.
 * 3) Improving quality control and outcome measures of wrist and hand surgery and arthroscopy.
 * 4) Monitoring the socio-economic impact of wrist and hand surgery and arthroscopy.
 * 5) Cherishing the history and culture of wrist and hand surgery and arthroscopy.

The official journal of IWAS is the Journal of Wrist Surgery, a peer-reviewed research journal published by Thieme.

History
IWAS was originally established as the European Wrist Arthroscopy Association (EWAS) in 2005 by the French surgeon Christophe Mathoulin. Christophe Mathoulin had earlier founded the French organisation Groupe European pour l’Arthroscopie du Poignet, which was soon changed to GEAP-EWAS and then EWAS (Bain et al). Inspired and mentored by the late French surgeon Philippe Saffar, Christophe Mathoulin had contributed to the understanding of the anatomy of the scapholunate interval (MATHOULIN ET AL). Christophe Mathoulin and Christian Dumontier (France) became the society’s first presidents. The first EWAS wrist arthroscopy course was held in 2005 in Strasbourg, France, where IWAS cadaveric courses continue to this day. The society’s first Secretary General was Christophe Mathoulin, who held this position from 2005 to 2014.

Francisco Del Piñal (President 2008-2010) described the surgical technique for dry wrist arthroscopy (arthroscopy without the routine use of saline) in 2007 (del Piñal et al). The EWAS classification of scapholunate instability was published in 2013 (Messina et al). In 2013, the Journal of Wrist Surgery was created under the leadership of David Slutsky (President 2013-2014) and Christophe Mathoulin (then Secretary General). The journal has six issues per year and the first impact factor (awarded in 2022) was 0.7. The current Editor-in-Chief is Toshiyasu Nakamura (Japan).

EWAS gained an increasingly international reach and membership and evolved into the International Wrist Arthroscopy Association (IWAS). The name change was ratified on 20th June 2019 at the combined congress of the International Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (IFSSH) and the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand (FESSH) in Berlin, Germany.

Christophe Mathoulin and Terry Whipple were made Honorary Lifetime Presidents of IWAS in 2019.

Council and Executive Committee
The IWAS Council and Executive committee comprises the President, Secretary General, Vice Secretary General, Past President, President Elect, Treasurer, Chair of the Teaching Committee, Chair of the Advisory Board, Chair of the Information Technology (IT) Committee, Chair of the Scientific Committee, and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Wrist Surgery.

Presidents and Secretarys General
The current President is Martin Caloia (Argentina), the Immediate Past President is Steve Moran (United States) and the current Secretary General is Henk Coert (The Netherlands).

Courses
IWAS cadaveric courses have been held at the IRCAD training centre in Strasbourg, France, since 2005. IWAS-affiliated cadaveric and non-cadaveric courses are currently held across the globe, including in Antalya and Istanbul (Turkey), Barcelona (Spain), Copenhagen (Denmark), Germany, Hong Kong, Lyon (France), Madrid (Spain), Miami (United States), Montpellier (France), Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Santiago (Chile), Taiwan and Valencia (Spain). Since 2023, a cadaveric wrist arthroscopy course has been held in Kigali, Rwanda, at the IRCAD Africa facility.

The world’s first wrist arthroscopy course was held in 1986 at Winston-Salem (North Carolina), United States, having been organised by Terry Whipple (United States), Garry Poehling (United States) and James Roth (Canada) (Bain et al).

Webinars
IWAS webinars were established in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic prevented international travel and in-person courses. In 2020, five webinars were delivered, and in subsequent years ten per year have been held. Registration is free and each webinar can be viewed live by an international audience. Webinars are recorded and hosted on the IWAS website. The webinars focus on basic and advanced topics related to wrist pathology and wrist arthroscopic techniques. The webinars are supported by medical industry sponsorship and IRCAD provides technical support and assistance. The webinars help disseminate wrist knowledge and arthroscopic techniques to a global audience, including those from low- and middle-income countries who may be unable to attend the courses.

Conferences
IWAS delivers educational sessions at multiple international hand and wrist surgery conferences, including the annual congresses of the Federation of European Societies for Surgery of the Hand (FESSH) and the American Association for Hand Surgery (AAHS).

Junior Grant
The IWAS junior grant is awarded annually to a surgeon in training or early years certified surgeon wanting to learn more about wrist surgery and wrist arthroscopy. The grant helps to facilitate travel to permit learning from a leading arthroscopic wrist surgeon.