Innovative treatments performed in a few selected centers in the world and those in experimental phase are the topics of the meeting on pathologies of the tendons of the foot, that will be discussed at Rizzoli Friday 26th and Saturday 27th of March by worldwide specialists: efficient treatment needs the collaboration of orthopaedic surgeons, sports medicine physicians, rehabilitation physicians, physiotherapists, and specialists in diagnostic imaging.

The meeting is a result of an International agreement of collaboration between Rizzoli and Chile signed a year ago: some physicians from Healthcare structures of the Chilean region Bio Bio are present, Montoya, MD: with a communication on surgical treatment of tendonpathies and Prof. Besser, who will attend for some time the Rizzoli wards, where since February two Chilean kinesiologists from the University of San Sebastian are already attending.

Amongst the foreign guests, Dr. Siljeholm from Sweden will present a particular technique for the treatment of tendonpathies which consists in infiltrations of sclerosing substances, that “close” the neoformed vessels that cause pain.

For innovative treatments presently used Rizzoli proposes the echo-guided administration of PRP (a growth factor that helps “repair” tissues). The technique, performed in a very limited number of centers, chooses a precise point where to inject the growth factor, here the difference with what commonly occurs in infiltrations, that are performed “blindly”, i.e. not in a specific point of the tendon.

Amongst experimental studies performed at Rizzoli, are mesenchymal stem cells applied to treatment of tendonpathies of the foot, in the fascinating prospective of tissue regeneration and the new frontiers of regenerative medicine.

“Our objective – explains Patrizia Pelotti, scientific coordinator of the Meeting directed by Sandro Giannini – is to develop the potential to treat tendonpathies of the foot in professional athletes, and it is not by chance that amongst the speakers at the Meeting a sports medicine physician of the Bologna Football team, Gianni Nanni is present, but treatment of amateur athletes is also important. To manage this,  know-how of the best techniques to be performed is necessary as is the team with the different medical specialities trained especially for this, they must intervene in various phases of treatment, from diagnosis to surgery, when the pathology has become chronic. However, the importance of prevention by correct training habits must always be kept in mind.”