Arnaldo Amado Ferreira Filho (1930–2020)

Arnaldo Amado Ferreira Filho ([Fig. 1]), one of the fathers of shoulder surgery in Brazil, passed away from natural causes in his home on November 10, 2020, at the age of 90.

Fig. 1 Arnaldo Amado Ferreira Filho.

A graduate of The School of Medicine of Universidade de São Paulo (Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de São Paulo, FMUSP, in Portuguese) in 1955, Dr. Ferreira Filho spent his entire professional life at this institution. He was in charge of the hemophilia outpatient facility, in which he gathered data for his master's degree thesis in 1978. His interest in shoulder surgery began in the 1970s, when he started to treat recurrent shoulder dislocation with bone block with what was then called the Bristow-Latarjet technique, the subject of his doctoral thesis from 1984.

The teaching of shoulder surgery in Brazil started with the first specialized outpatient clinic at the Teaching Hospital at FMUSP, in 1983, coordinated by Dr. Ferreira Filho. There, he trained dozens of specialists, and many of them continue to form new generations. In the 1980s and 1990s, shoulder pathology dominated his professional activities, and Dr. Ferreira Filho traveled throughout Brazil and neighboring countries to disseminate his specialty at a time when little was known about it and the surgical arsenal was still rudimentary. Its first arthroscopic material did not have a monitor, and the limited visual field was obtained through “vision”!

Dr. Ferreira Filho actively participated in the creation of the Shoulder and Elbow Committee of the Brazilian Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology (Comitê de Ombro e Cotovelo da Sociedade Brasileira de Ortopedia e Traumatologia, COC-SBOT, currently called Sociedade Brasileira de Cirurgia do Ombro e Cotovelo, SBCOC, in Portuguese) in Brasília, Brazil, at the 1988 Brazilian Congress on Orthopedics and Traumatology (Congresso Brasileiro de Ortopedia e Traumatiologia, CBOT, in Portuguese). When nominated as the first president of the new institution, Dr. Ferreira Filho renounced the distinction and indicated his friend Donato D'Ângelo, from Rio de Janeiro. This is why the next generation started to call them the “Fathers of Shoulder Surgery in Brazil.”

Dr. Ferreira Filho made several international contributions to shoulder surgery, paving the way for future endeavors. In 1992, Charles Neer invited him to be an editor at the new Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, a unique honor. Back then, Dr. Ferreira Filho indicated Sérgio Checchia, Sérgio Nicoletti, Paulo Sérgio dos Santos, Donato D'Ângelo, Américo Zoppi Fo, and Osvandré Lech as associate editors. In a handwritten letter, Neer thanked Dr. Ferreira Filho: “The Founding Trustees are delighted the South Americans have appointed such an outstanding staff and adopt our Journal as their official Journal […].”

The South American Shoulder and Elbow Society (currently called Latin American Shoulder and Elbow Society, Sociedad Latinoamericana de Hombro y Codo, SLAHOC, in Spanish) was founded at the 1994 CBOT in the city of Salvador, Brazil, with Charles Neer as the “inaugural lecturer”. On the occasion, Dr. Ferreira Filho was appointed as the first president. In addition, since 1994 Dr. Ferreira Filho was an international correspondent member of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES).

Dr. Ferreira Filho ended his activities at USP in 1998, but remained active in his private practice until recently. He participated in several international congresses on shoulder and elbow (initially at the International Congress of Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons [ICSS], then at the International Congress on Shoulder and Elbow Surgery [ICSES]). Dr. Ferreira Filho was honored as a “Pioneer” in 2001, in Cape Town, South Africa, when Brazil was nominated as host of the 2007 ICSS.

Known to all by his vast general culture, Dr. Ferreira Filho would talk about art, music, literature, history etc. with a notable volume of information.

In the early 1990s, the notable Hiroaki Fukuda, during his only visit to Brazil to speak at the International Update Congress on Orthopedics (Congresso Internacional de Atualização em Ortopedia e Traumatologia, ORTRA, in Portuguese), and after talking at length with Dr. Ferreira Filho, asked him: “Where did you learn so much about shoulder surgery?”. The answer was simple: “During my residency training and studying by myself.” Fukuda had before him a self-taught shoulder surgeon, something rare at the time and nonexistent today... He was impressed by the fact and repeated the story many times. Self-education along with a rigid process of learning from experience, carefully following the bibliography and keeping an open mind for innovations, is the best way to define Dr. Ferreira Filho's impressive scientific trajectory. He used to say that “The scientific spirit does not come from institutions, but from people who think freely.”

Dr. Ferreira Filho leaves his wife Vera, children Fernando and Arnaldo, daughter-in-law Christina, grandchildren Sylvia, Vitória and Gustavo, and great-granddaughter Ava, family members and a legion of admirers.

Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, the quote “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death” reflects the life and work of the brilliant Professor Arnaldo Amado Ferreira Filho.

Rest in Peace.

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
19. Februar 2021