History of AO Asia Pacific (AOAP)

The AO was founded in 1958 in Switzerland and its principles of fracture management were propagated to all parts of the world. The dissemination of AO knowledge has expanded under the responsibility of AO International, now called AO Education (AOE), which is one of four main pillars of the AO Foundation beside AO Clinical investigation and Documentation, AO Development and AO Research. The AO principles have helped thousands of surgeons and million of patients in the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries.

In the past, Asian surgeons learnt about AO techniques by attending courses in Davos, Switzerland and through visits of guest lecturers from the West in the countries of Asia. The number of AO courses in Asia has sharply increased over the last couple of years because of the availability of Practical Workshop Sets (PWS) in Asia. Apart from developing the teaching activities for orthopedic surgeons, we should not forget that the nurses in the operating rooms who are a part of the operation team need also to be included in the AO teaching activities (ORP courses).

Under the AO Presidency of Prof. Marvin Tile from 1992 to 1994 the concept of regionalization was born and AO East Asia (AOEA) was founded in November 1994 under the leadership of Dr. Suthorn Bavonratanavech who also became the first chairman of AOEA. Prof. S.P. Chow, the second chairman spearheaded the growth of scientific activities within AOEA and the third chairman, Dr. G On Tong united the region of AO Asia-Pacific.

The Cranio-maxillofacial group, originally a subspecialty within AOEA, became an independent body, called AO Cranio-Maxillofacial Asia in 2006. This group is under the chairmanship of Prof. Thiam Chye Lim from Singapore.

Major achievements of AOEA at a glimpse were: The first issue of AOEA newsletter in 2000, the launch of the AOEA website in 2001, the formation of the study groups in 2003, the first AOAA-Asian Chapter Symposium in Chiang Mai, Thailand and the formation of the ORP group in 2004, and the first combined regional AO courses in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2006.

It is worthwhile mentioning that the AO Foundation with the help of devoted doctors and our industrial partner Synthes provided support to relief tsunami and earthquake victims in Asia.

The countries belonging to AOEA were: Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) and Thailand. The success of AOEA came from the cooperation and contribution of surgeons in the member countries, the support from the Board of Directors and members of the Academic Council of the AO Foundation. A major step forward happened in 2003, when Japan affiliated with AOEA.

In November 2006, the AO trustees of the People’s Republic of China decided to join AOEA, bringing the most populous nation to be part of the group. There was additional momentum at the AO courses in 2006 in Davos with the trustees of Australia and New Zealand agreeing to join the Asian Trauma Group. At that time the chairman of AOEA, Dr. G On Tong, decided to call the new body AO Trauma Asia-Pacific, in short AOTAP. At the Tips for Trainers event in New Delhi in February 2007, another breakthrough happened with the trustees of India accepting the invitation to join AOTAP. In less than six months AO Trauma Asia-Pacific has become a reality and is now representing one of the regions of the AO Foundation.

There are three study groups in AOEA, namely hand, soft tissue and minimal invasive. The  latter group published the first book on the subject of minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) in 2006. It is the first book in AO Publishing, which does not originate from Europe and North America.

AOAP’s regional boards work with guidelines which were approved by its members and also by the AOVA in order to guarantee transparency and good governance.