18th Annual Reconstruction Conference (ARC)
Surgery Through a Needle
Taking the Operation Out of Surgery
An invited lecture on biological joint reconstruction, using NanoACi as a translational case study for a single-stage approach to autologous cartilage repair — and asking whether procedures that once required an operation could increasingly be delivered through a needle in the years before joint replacement becomes necessary.
Where and when
- ARCPresented
18th Annual Reconstruction Conference (ARC)
United Orthopedic Corporation
September 2026Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Authors
- Paul Lee — Lecturer, MSK Doctors; United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Themes
Scientific Focus
Orthopaedic surgery has spent decades becoming less invasive: large operations became smaller ones, open procedures became arthroscopic, and hospital stays and recovery times shortened. The lecture asks whether the next step is not simply a smaller incision but taking the operation out of surgery altogether.
Using NanoACi as a translational case study, Professor Paul Lee explores a single-stage approach to autologous cartilage reconstruction that brings together mechanically processed autologous cartilage tissue, extracellular matrix technology and point-of-care biological delivery. The concept challenges the traditional boundary between an injection and an operation: rather than using an injection only to manage symptoms, it asks whether a needle could become a delivery platform for biological reconstruction.
From the conference
Why It Matters
For an arthroplasty audience, this is not an argument against joint replacement — hip and knee replacement remain transformative treatments for appropriately selected patients with end-stage joint disease. Instead it raises a different question: what more can be done in the years before replacement becomes necessary?
From cartilage regeneration to the emerging possibilities for meniscus, tendon and other musculoskeletal tissues, advances in biomaterials, tissue processing and regenerative medicine may create a new category of intervention that sits between conventional injections and conventional surgery. The future of orthopaedics may therefore not simply be about making surgery smaller — it may be about redefining what an operation needs to be.
Next in the programme
Movement Quality After Intra-articular Injections: Comprehensive Real-World Evaluation Using Markerless Motion Analysis in Knee Osteoarthritis
Turkic-Speaking Countries Orthopaedics & Traumatology International Congress · September 2026