Summary
Introduction of the registry of the German speaking countries Austria, Switzerland, Germany
Abstract
by Sebastian Kopf, Philip Niemeyer, Ralf Müller-Rath
The registry of the Germany speaking countries Austria, Switzerland, and Germany was established in 2017. Initially it included standard arthroscopies such as partial meniscectomies and anterior cruciate reconstructions. Afterwards it was step by step enlarged adding more complex ligament surgeries of the knee, osteotomies, and TKA; but also, other joints such as shoulder and ankle arthroscopies were added. Historically, cartilage procedures have been registered in Germany in a specific cartilage register, which uses the same software architecture and is closely linked to DART. DART has been financed by the German Orthopaedic society (DKOU), the German speaking Society for Arthroscopy and Joint Surgery, and German Occupational Union for Arthroscopy. After written consent, patients are asked via email to fill patient reported outcome measures such as IKDC-2000 and KOOS. Surgeons can choose either the basic version including only the diagnosis related codes for insurance reimbursement, or the scientific version including detailed data about the performed surgery. Recording can be chosen either by surgeon’s name or hospital´s or group´s name. Longest follow-up are ten years. Until February 2013, 11,491 patients were included: 7,999 for the scientific and 3492 for the basic version. Mean age was 43 years. First studies to analyze the registry data are ongoing.