1. Late August in Busan: The Korean Orthopedic Landscape
Just a couple of weeks ago, at the end of August 2026, I stepped away from my full operating schedule at Guangzhou Boss Animal Hospital. Alongside my longtime colleague and veteran orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Dongxing Xu, I boarded a flight to Busan, South Korea.
We were heading to the grand exhibition halls of BEXCO for the 9th Busan Veterinary Conference (2026 BVC), invited by Chinese veterinary orthopedic pioneer Vetmaster to lead an intensive two-day Total Hip Replacement (THR) workshop.
Following our successful masterclass in Seoul last year, this marked our second major academic training event in South Korea. When registration opened in July, the response from Korean referral practitioners was so enthusiastic that seats filled up almost immediately, forcing an early closure of registration.
As a grassroots clinician who has spent over twenty-three years in the surgical trenches, traveling abroad to teach is always a meaningful experience. Veterinary medicine may not dictate the macroeconomic fate of nations, but as standards of living rise, companion animal welfare has become a universal measure of human civilization. Being able to represent the technological achievements of modern Chinese veterinary medicine on the Korean peninsula is something I take quiet pride in.
2. A Rigorous Two-Day Curriculum: From Engineering to the Femoral Axis
Over the weekend of August 29 and 30, we shared the podium with prominent Korean orthopedic leaders: Dr. Sangwoo Kwak and Dr. Sungho Byun from Leaders Animal Medical Center, with Dr. Changmin Park from Konkuk University providing seamless, highly professional Korean-English interpretation.
We built the syllabus to bridge foundational biomechanics with real-world operative nuances:
Day 1 (August 29): Architectural Foundations and Preoperative Planning
- The Opening Keynote: I kicked off the morning session by breaking down the engineering architecture of the Vetmaster biological dual-mobility hip system—explaining how 3D-printed porous titanium lattices and mobile ceramic bearings solve the twin hazards of aseptic loosening and luxation in athletic animals.
- Surgical Approaches & Anatomy: Dr. Kwak systematically covered the surgical approaches, followed by Dr. Byun’s deep dive into the complex geometric anatomy of pelvic and femoral angles.
- Planning the Bone Cuts: In the afternoon, Dr. Dongxing Xu (who brings the weight of over 200 personal THR procedures) delivered an exhaustive breakdown on Surgical Planning of the Femur and Acetabulum. He shared critical protocols on calculating osteotomy angles and bone resection volumes, emphasizing a core principle we both live by: a primary surgeon must personally supervise or position the preoperative radiographs to eliminate projection artifacts before the patient ever enters the OR.
Day 2 (August 30): Objective Verification and the "Anteversion" Benchmark
- Imaging & Post-Op Protocols: Dr. Kwak opened Sunday with radiographic evaluation metrics during and after surgery, followed by Dr. Byun’s evidence-based guidelines on multimodal pain management and convalescent care to protect the press-fit interface.
- My Advanced Session on Femoral Anteversion: In the final academic lecture, I took the podium to teach The Measurement of Femoral Anteversion. I demonstrated how to utilize multi-angular radiographic projections to accurately calculate physiological anteversion, account for femoral neck torsion, and objectively evaluate postoperative success.
- Live Surgical Masterclass: Following the theory sessions, Dr. Dongxing Xu took the bench for a comprehensive live surgical demonstration. He walked participants through micro-force control during femoral broaching, concentric acetabular milling, and the tactile feedback required to seat a biological press-fit cup without cracking cortical bone.
3. Mutual Calibration: A Two-Way Cross-Border Dialogue
This mission to Busan was never about unilateral lecturing. As I noted in my travel logs, international exchanges are a two-way street of mutual calibration.
While we shared the clinical algorithms and operative data forged across my career—having officially surpassed over 1,000 personal total hip replacements earlier this year—we were also there to closely examine the operational models, diagnostic rigor, and specialization trends driving South Korea’s companion animal hospitals.
The interaction was electric. During the coffee breaks and hands-on sessions, Korean clinicians gathered around our demonstration tables with intense focus. We debated millimeter tolerances, broaching resistance, and soft-tissue balancing. It was fascinating to see how clinicians from different healthcare environments, speaking different native languages, immediately unified around the universal laws of biomechanics and bone healing. When two surgeons look at an orthogonal postoperative radiograph, zero translation is needed.
The leading Korean veterinary media outlet, DailyVet (데일리벳), covered our masterclass in depth, reporting on the rigorous bilateral exchange between Chinese and Korean specialists and highlighting the rapid international adoption of biological joint technology.
4. "Guohuo ZhiGuang": The Pride of Domestic Innovation
For decades, Asian veterinary medicine looked exclusively westward—translating American textbooks, attending European workshops, and paying exorbitant premiums for imported implants.
Seeing our domestically engineered Vetmaster system—affectionately celebrated across our clinical community as "Guohuo ZhiGuang" (The Pride of Domestic Innovation)—not just welcomed, but actively sought after by discerning international clinicians in South Korea is profoundly gratifying.
We are no longer just passive consumers of foreign technology. Through rigorous university partnerships, doctoral materials science research at SCAU, and thousands of hours on the operating table, Chinese veterinary orthopedics is generating original, high-precision solutions that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any brand on the global market.
As I shared with our Korean colleagues at the close of the conference:
"I look forward to meeting many more passionate, dedicated Korean veterinarians through our ongoing Vetmaster training programs. It is my sincere hope that this curriculum plays a meaningful, lasting role in advancing and disseminating total hip replacement surgery across South Korea."
5. Returning to the Bench in Guangzhou
With the Busan conference successfully concluded, I have returned to Guangzhou, jumping right back into my daily routine at Guangzhou Boss Animal Hospital: evaluating complex referral cases, scrubbed into joint reconstructions, and training our visiting surgical residents.
Every international journey is a mirror. It reminds me why we refuse to compromise back home, why we measure our bone cuts to the millimeter, and why we hold the line on surgical craftsmanship.
Excellence in surgery belongs to no single nation. It belongs to the living animal on the table, waiting for a second chance to run.
