10th anniversary congress of the Cartilage Net of the Greater Region

On September 28th and 29th 2023, 3 LIROMS and CHL collaborators, Prof Dr med Romain Seil, Dr med Christian Nührenbörger and Dr Caroline Mouton and a resident from the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery of the CHL, Dr med Yorick Fonteyn, attended the 10th anniversary congress of the Cartilage Net of the Greater Region in Saarbrücken, Germany. The congress was perfectly organized and chaired by Prof. Magali Cucchiarini and Prof. Henning Madry from the Department of Experimental Orthopaedics of the University of Saarland and co-chaired by Prof. Seil.
The network brings together the different basic, scientific, clinical and engineering groups of the greater region since 2011. This year's congress edition was placed under the European spirit with a special emphasis on the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty and was an ideal platform to honor the friendship between France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium.
It was an opportunity to exchange on academic cooperation in the Greater Region and the challenges and future of academic research in the field of cartilage diseases with many special guests including Jakob von Weizsäcker, Minister of Finance and Science of Saarland; Profs. Manfred Schmitt and Patricia Oster-Stierle, President and former Vice President of Saarland University; M Georges Santer, Luxembourg's former ambassador in Paris and Berlin as well as M Sébastien Girard, Consul of France in Saarbrücken.
Participants from Saarbrücken, Liège, Nancy and Luxembourg focused on recent evolutions in basic science and clinical research in cartilage and related diseases. The Luxembourgish participants reported on their research line on anterior cruciate ligament injuries. These severe knee injuries have a significant public health burden and bear a high risk of meniscus and cartilage lesions as well as later osteoarthritis. Special emphasis was made on the need for injury prevention by Dr Nuhrenbörger, on the importance of documenting the associated tissue damage by Dr Yorick Fonteyn, on joint preservation surgeries by Prof Dr Seil and on the importance of patient follow up by Dr Caroline Mouton.