Oct 16, 2007 6:00 pm US/Eastern
Health: Treating Knee Pain
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
In health,
Medical Reporter Stephanie Stahl has details on a breakthrough for treating knee pain as some doctors are doing just half the knee.
After years of suffering with arthritis pain in his left knee, Howard Chapman found relief with a new minimally invasive replacement.
"I can pick my feet up, I can move it in, out, up, over, anything you want, works fine," said Howard.
Now he's returned to his doctor to have his right knee replaced using the same technique.
Unlike traditional knee replacement surgery where the entire joint is replaced, Orthopedic Surgeon Michael Bronson, replaces just part of the damaged knee joint.
He said it's only an option when arthritis damage to the joint is not advanced and affects only one side.
"That's his right knee, the outside of the right knee you see is very adequate cartilage space. But the inside of the right knee, you see it's almost bone on bone. Patients will be very specific that rather than the whole knee hurting, they'll point to the inside of the knee and say this is where it hurts," said Dr. Bronson.
"It's like a shooting pain in the side of your leg, you know the pain is there, I walk expecting pain," said Howard.
From start to finish, the procedure takes less than an hour. And in only two weeks, Howard walks into Dr. Bronson's office for a checkup.
"His knee looks great, there's no swelling, you see he has great motion," said Dr. Bronson.
Howard will be playing golf again within a month.
"Oh I've recommended it to a lot of people," said Howard.
The American College of Orthopedic Surgeons cautions that the hardware used in this procedure, while FDA approved, is still new, so there's no long term data.
It is available at Jefferson's Rothman Institute. For more information call
1-800-JEFF-NOW.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Radiation Detected At Three Mile Island 2 mins ago
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments