ACPOC 2022 Annual Meeting Follow Up

The Association of Children’s Prosthetic-Orthotic Clinics (ACPOC) hosted a successful 2022 Annual Meeting in Clearwater, Florida from April 6th–9th.  This was the first in-person since 2019.  ACPOC president, Anna Vergun MD, opened the meeting stating It was great to see familiar faces of members, new attendees, and exhibitors who over the next 3 days will share knowledge and ideas used to treat “…children, adolescents and young adults with various musculoskeletal differences.”

The meeting opened with Technical Workshops from exhibitors and manufacturers providing the opportunity to describe new products and technologies.  An overarching theme of the workshop session was “innovative solutions”.  3-D modeling and additive manufacturing processes are being incorporated in newer products such as cranial remolding helmets, spinal orthoses and a variety of ankle foot orthoses.  The Hector Kay Lecture, Ola Harrysson, professor at North Carolina State University, provided a comprehensive review of how the medical fields are adopting additive processing and 3-D manufacturing types of techniques and incorporating them into practice.

The second day featured Lower Extremity Orthotics and Outcomes & Research presentations. Specific presentations included topics on: Arthrogryposis, Clubfoot, Autism and Sex/Racial differences in Fibular and Femoral Deficiency.  There were also presentations addressing more global topics including: Please, Let’s Define Function, Mental Health Screenings and Covid-19 related pediatric amputations.  Helenlyn Popescu was awarded the New Investigator Award.

Jennifer Brondon, MD, from the University of North Carolina provided her expertise on Vascular Malformations followed by a multidisciplinary panel to discuss pediatric Vascular Anomalies.  

Clinician’s Guided Forums are a popular part of ACPOC’s program. These sessions included a variety of complex cases and were the sources of varied discussions on treatment modalities (prosthetic, orthotic, surgical) as well as patient/family management.

The 3rd day began with presentations regarding upper limb, thoracic, and cranial disorders.  Studies focused on the challenges and efficacy of fitting upper limb prostheses to children, as well as a revealing study on how children’s brains perceive the congenital absences of a limb.  This session was followed by a mixture of presentations on Gait, Orthotics and Prosthetics.

During the ACPOC’s Member Business Meeting, the state of ACPOC was discussed as well as the election of new board members.  Anna Vergun will be “passing the gavel” of presidency to Colleen Coulter, with newly elected Members-At-Large (Vivian Yip and Brian Emling), Vice President (Phoebe Scott -Wyard) and Treasurer (Robert Lipschutz).

Saturday’s general session focused on lower limb amputations, “Epidemiology of International Patients”, Patellofemoral Instability, and Targeted Muscle Reinnervation.  The meeting ended with challenging case presentations with the emphasis on “Function”.

The complete agenda can be found below:

ACPOC is looking forward to continuing its in-person format with the 2023 Annual Meeting scheduled for May 16 – 20 in Minneapolis, MN!