Hip Resurfacing News - Articles 2008

New Hip Surgery Designed For Younger Patients - Dr. Kelly

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:42:36 -0700

Link http://cbs4denver.com/local/Colorado.News.Denver.2.556499.html

By Kathy Walsh
Feb 15, 2007

DENVER (CBS4) ― Doctors at Presbyterian Saint Luke's Hospital have started offering a new type of hip surgery aimed to help baby boomers who are having pain in their hips earlier than normal. The Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last May.

The new surgery is an alternative to total hip replacement and aimed at people under the age of 60.

"It is something that patients have actually been waiting to have done," said Dr. Cindy Kelly at Presbyterian Saint Luke's.

One operation CBS4 witnessed took 2 hours as Kelly prepares the hip socket, then hammered a new metal one into place. Kelly shaved the damaged bone on the hip ball, preserving it rather than removing it. She then glued and pounded in a new metal cover.

"Patients have full motion, really without the risk of dislocation," said Kelly.

The new procedure allows for more activity. Patients could be up and moving in 6 weeks, but need to wait a year before running.

One benefit is that if a patient needs another hip replacement, the thigh bone is largely intact.

The new resurfacing procedure may not be for everyone. Patients should always consult their own doctor.

Smith & Nephew revenues hit £500m for first time

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:00:19 -0700

Link Click here to read complete story

August 7, 2008

Europe's largest medical devices firm, Smith & Nephew, which manufactures hip implants in Birmingham, has posted better-than-expected second-quarter earnings as revenues hit £500 million for the first time, boosting its stock.

The group confirmed its outlook for the full year, including the impact of problems at its Plus Orthopaedics, where the company revealed it had uncovered "unacceptable" sales practices three months ago.

Chief executive David Illingworth said: "We have generated quarterly revenues of $1 billion (£512 million) for the first time, as a result of a very solid performance across all of our businesses."

"In Reconstruction we have seen good growth in both our hip and knee product lines; in Trauma the actions we have taken in sales management have begun to pay off; Endoscopy has delivered double-digit revenue growth and in Advanced Wound Management we have outperformed the market. We are confirming our guidance for the full year and we believe that the long term outlook for our business is excellent," he added.

In Orthopaedic Reconstruction, global hip revenue growth was a solid seven per cent due to good contributions across all products and regions.

The Birmingham Hip Resurfacing System now has an estimated 3.5 per cent share by volume of the total US hip market after only two years in the market.

Investors welcomed the performance.

Nomura Code analyst Charles Weston said: "All the divisions did well on their sales and they've confirmed that the sales hit from Plus will be $100 million (£51 million), which is effectively positive because there are no new negatives."

Pre-tax profit rose to £80 million from £75.3 million a year earlier. Sales were £512 million, an underlying increase of eight per cent, or 23 per cent on a reported basis.

Bilat Resurfacing - Copenhaver hopes to compete again

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:36:45 -0700

Link http://www.star-telegram.com/376/story/822867.html

By RICKY TREON

Calf roping is no longer a young man's sport for Jeff Copenhaver.

It was, back when he was 9 and dreamed of being a world champion. Back when he went to his first national finals 13 years later, and when he competed in that prestigious event for the last time at 29.

But now, at 59 years young, Copenhaver has decided to return to calf roping competition, something he thought he'd given up long ago.

Copenhaver, who runs the Cowboy Church at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth and also works with kids, did win that world championship in 1975 and he continued to be one of calf roping's premier competitors and teachers for two more decades.

It seemed age had finally caught up with Copenhaver in 1995, when it became too painful to mount a horse. And at the time, not being able to practice calf roping in any capacity was something he could deal with.

"I really didn't think I had any more desire to do it," he said of the skill that he'd nearly perfected throughout his life. "I was just minding my own business in 2006. And then, bam, the desire came back."

Copenhaver said that desire was subtle at first. But in October 2006, he scheduled a double-hip resurfacing, a new procedure that allows less bone removal and more mobility than a total hip replacement. The hope was to eliminate the pain and regain the abilities he thought he'd lost forever.

Turns out he had to wait until the following August to finally have his surgery done by Dr. Theodore Crofford at Fort Worth's Texas Hip and Knee Center.

It was tough, waiting all that time, he said.

Copenhaver hasn't had any complications after the surgery last Aug. 27 and said he's feeling better physically than he did at age 36 when he'd last sat in a saddle.

"They know so much more about the body and how it works nowadays," Copenhaver said. "I'm just way more fit."

So fit that he wants to start competing again. Though it sounds like a pipe dream, Copenhaver is doing everything he can to make sure he doesn't end this comeback disappointed or hurt.

Riding a horse and roping a calf is hardly like riding a bike.

"It's going to take a certain length of time to get riding again with an edge," he said. "The hip is just now, at 11 1/2 months, starting to feel strong again"...

Hip Resurfacing Doctor observes 30 years practicing in Galesburg - Myron Stachniw orthopedic surgeon

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 11:41:10 -0700

Link Read Complete Story by Clicking Here

By JOHN R. PULLIAM GateHouse News Service

Aug 08, 2008 GALESBURG — Dr. Myron Stachniw is celebrating his 30th year practicing in Galesburg.

Stachniw had his first office hours here on July 5, 1978. He earned his bachelor’s degree from what was then the University of Illinois Chicago Circle in 1969, then graduated from medical school in Wisconsin in 1973. Stachniw did a surgical internship and a four-year orthopedic residency at the University of Illinois Hospitals, completing that in 1978, the same year he obtained his master’s degree.

Stachniw, a native of Racine, Wis., who attended high school in Chicago, admitted he had never heard of Galesburg before being asked by the Elks Club to do a Crippled Children’s clinic here.
The Elks had an agreement with the University of Illinois to send residents to various cities to conduct the clinics.

"I came here for the first time as a second-year resident and loved Galesburg so much that I kept on asking to do the clinics," Stachniw said. "I kept returning and, eventually, Cottage Hospital made me an offer to set me up in practice and I jumped at that chance."

His practice is now known at Midwest Orthopedic Services and is located in Cottage Medical Plaza, 834 N. Seminary St., Suite 406.

Stachniw feels Galesburg is the ideal size.

"Galesburg is a wonderful place to live and to practice," he said. "I can do as sophisticated medicine and surgery as I like, but yet enjoy the small town atmosphere."

Stachniw said he has had offers over the years to join orthopedic groups in larger cities but has not been tempted.

"I plan to retire here," he said. "I would like to practice full time for another five years and then do part time, as long as I am healthy. I plan to retire in Galesburg but hope to travel."

Working in a smaller city has not limited his opportunities over the years. He said he developed an interest in joint replacements and has been able to take part in several clinical trials. He has helped design instruments and components for joint replacements.

"I was invited to be a clinical investigator for the hip resurfacing study and was one of 18 surgeons in North America" who first did the procedure.

Hip resurfacing is sometimes used as an alternative to hip replacement. It is a type of orthopaedic surgery that replaces a damaged or arthritic joint with something better or by remodeling or realigning the joint.

"I have had patients come to Galesburg from almost every state in the union, as well as Trinidad, West Indies, for hip surgery. I have also taught hip surgery in Chicago, Las Vegas and Memphis," he said.

Stachniw has continued teaching, helping other surgeons learn hip resurfacing procedures.
"Along with my wife, Reva, who is a nurse, I have conducted studies for the past 18 years for pharmaceutical companies, doing clinical trials on various medications associated with orthopedics. These are studies done for the FDA," Stachniw said.

Shortly after beginning his practice here, Stachniw had another opportunity, one he probably would not have minded missing. A traffic accident offered him the chance to show he truly believed in the quality of medical care here.

"When I was involved in a severe automobile accident in Chicago in 1980, I wanted nothing more than to return to Galesburg to get good health care," he said.

Stachniw has had an office party and a party with his family to mark his three decades of practicing medicine in Galesburg. He has never looked back.

"I have always felt that Galesburg has provided an exceptionally high quality of health care and that has continued to be the case," Stachniw said.

Doctor observes 30 years practicing in Galesburg - Myron Stachniw orthopedic surgeon

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 11:41:10 -0700

Link Read Complete Story by Clicking HereBy JOHN R. PULLIAM GateHouse News Service

Hip joints resurfaced instead of Replaced

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:47:17 -0700

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20080715/news_1c15alivem.html

July 15, 2008 SAN DIEGO ALIVE

With more people in their 40s and early 50s being sidelined by severe osteoarthritis, a new technology – hip resurfacing as an alternative to hip replacement – is giving baby boomers a chance to stay active longer.

Robyn Benincasa, a runner and San Diego firefighter, had a new hip resurfacing procedure.

The Birmingham Hip Resurfacing system takes only the cartilage off the outer part of the ball and socket joint, and installs a cobalt-chromium steel cap and cup that slides more smoothly than hip replacements, lasts longer and has less potential for leg-length discrepancy. Widely used in the U.K. since 1997, the BHR system was approved for use in the U.S. in May 2006.

This week, San Diego Alive, the Union-Tribune's video health feature, spotlights local adventure racer and San Diego firefighter Robyn Benincasa, who, under the care of La Jolla orthopedic surgeon Dr. Michael Kimball, had the procedure. Five months after Kimball resurfaced Benincasa's troublesome hip, she ran across Vietnam.

Saving on Surgery by Going Abroad

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:03:13 -0700

Read complete article by clicking here

May 1, 2008 By Avery Comarow

If he could have, Brad Barnum would have kissed the ground when he climbed out of the car in Ruidoso, N.M., at the end of March. But the 53-year-old building contractor had undergone major remodeling himself—and his new knee and two new hips ruled out kneeling for a few more weeks. Still, he was ecstatic. More than two months after leaving for the hospital, he was home, and he had afforded the otherwise unaffordable. By having the work done in India, at Wockhardt Hospital in Bangalore, he'd gotten his new joints for just $23,000. Even after adding about $5,000 for airfare, passport, visa, and incidentals, the total was nearly 80 percent less than the $125,000 or more he easily could have been charged by a U.S. hospital. And that bill wouldn't have included physician fees and "ancillary charges."

Barnum is one of thousands of Americans—estimates range from an ultraconservative 5,000 to 500,000 annually if minor procedures are counted—who are leaving the States for surgery when they have to come up with funds themselves. They may be self-employed or work for a small business and lack health insurance, for example, or their procedure may not be covered. More than 1 in 4 workers earning at least $60,000 a year went without insurance in 2006, according to a Census Bureau survey; too well-off to be eligible for medical assistance, they can often wring tens of thousands of dollars out of hospital "rack rates" by going abroad. Some employers and big insurers like UnitedHealth and Blue Cross and Blue Shield are so intrigued by "medical tourism" that they're beginning to sniff for signs that it might be smart to cover it. "I was totally amazed not just at the quality of the medical care but at the quality of the service," says David Boucher, an assistant vice president of healthcare services at BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina who has visited many facilities abroad. "The initial driver may be price, but patients' positive experiences will do a lot to advance the movement."

So far, there's been mostly talk, with little action from employers and health carriers. In fact, the first verified case of major surgery abroad as an employee benefit took place only earlier this year. (The patient reportedly paid nothing out of pocket for a knee replacement—in fact, the company, a North Carolina manufacturer, paid him a tidy sum for saving so much money.) Wockhardt, where the procedure was done, won't name the company.

Meanwhile, patients are finding their way abroad on their own. Wockhardt's hospitals in Bangalore and Bombay operated on about 850 U.S. patients in 2007, more than double the 2006 total. In Thailand, Bangkok's Bumrungrad Hospital says it treats more than 38,000 Americans a year—a somewhat inflated figure that represents "patient encounters," not individual patients, and includes expatriates. Other hospitals in India and Thailand, as well as centers in Singapore, are actively courting Americans, and the governments of South Korea and Taiwan are about to launch campaigns.

Low-budget dentistry, Botox-ing, lipo, and other cosmetic work have for years drawn Americans into Mexico and to other Latin American countries. But the growth in serious elective surgery halfway around the world is new. Josef Woodman, who publishes the Patients Beyond Borders series of guidebooks to finding good care, thinks about 50,000 patients a year leave the country for major noncosmetic elective procedures such as joint replacement, coronary artery bypass, new or repaired heart valves, or back repair.

Many, like Barnum, do the legwork on their own. But concierge services like MedRetreat.com and IndUShealth.com are multiplying, to help with lists of potential hospitals, appointment scheduling, arranging airport pickup and drop-off, and general hand-holding. (Information from Woodman's annual hospital survey has been incorporated into the World Hospital Finder, a U.S. News search tool for people who are seeking care abroad.)

Read Complete Article by clicking here

Surgeons report a nearly 10-fold increase in wound complications among COX-2

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:02:11 -0700

Link http://www.orthosupersite.com/view.asp?rid=29416

By Gina Brockenbrough
July 2008

DENVER — Patients with foot and/or ankle surgical wounds who are taking COX-2 inhibitors may have a significantly higher incidence of delayed wound healing than those not taking the medication, according to new research presented here.

To evaluate the potential impact of COX-2 inhibitors on surgical wound healing, Chad Lamoreaux, MD, and colleagues performed a retrospective study of all foot and ankle patients operated on by a single surgeon using the same wound care plan during a 3-year period. The investigators excluded patients with pre-existing foot and ankle wounds and those with a history of chronic ulcers.

The results were presented at the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society 24th Annual Summer Meeting.

Of the 175 patients included in the study, 12.6% had delayed wound healing, which the investigators defined as a postoperative delay, infection, wound sloth or lesion that was followed for a period in the wound care clinic. Of the total study group, 18 patients were on preoperative standing doses of COX-2 medications, which included either celecoxib or rofecoxib.

The investigators discovered that nine of the 18 patients taking a COX-2 inhibitor had delayed wound complications compared to only 13 of the 157 non-COX-2 patients. While the groups were similar regarding demographics such as age and gender, a closer examination revealed a non-equal distribution of patients with diabetes and tobacco use.

After excluding patients with these risk factors, the investigators found that only six of the remaining 150 non-COX-2 patients had wound-healing complications (4%) compared to four out of the 13 remaining COX-2 patients (31%).

"[We] did make several assumptions to do this paper," Lamoreaux said during his presentation. "The distribution of Celebrex (celecoxib, Pfizer) vs. Bextra (valdecoxib, Pfizer) was not looked at. Also, the usage of the nonspecific anti-inflammatories was not looked at. But with the normal patients, our findings still showed a very significant impact of COX-2s on their ability to heal their surgical wounds."

For more information:

Lamoreaux C, Santrock RD and Deemer J. COX-2 inhibitors and wound healing complications. Presented at the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society 24th Annual Summer Meeting. June 26-28, 2008. Denver.

Hip Surgery In India? Insurance May Pay

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:57:44 -0700

June 2008

Link http://www.nbc11.com/msnbchealth/16748813/detail.html

Timmi Ryerson, a San Diego stock market analyst, says her left hip actually works again, thanks to an orthopedic specialist in India.

...What's new about these procedures is not the exotic locales the three chose, but the way they paid for their far-flung surgeries.

While at least 150,000 Americans travel abroad for medical care every year, according to the American Medical Association, Ryerson, Mason and Davies represent a small but growing category of medical tourist: patients whose insurance companies have agreed to foot at least part of the bill.

"I think that's the solution to our health care crisis," said Davies, 53, whose company plan, Delta Dental, maxed out his dental benefit, about $2,500, toward the $30,000 he spent to repair damage caused by years of grinding his teeth, a procedure that would have cost an estimated $80,000 in the United States.

Increasingly, some of the nation's larger employers and leading health insurers agree.

Once the province of the poor and uninsured, medical tourism is gaining attention of industry giants such as CIGNA, Aetna and Blue Cross/Blue Shield, who say they either have begun or are considering pilot programs that provide limited coverage for foreign care. One Montana firm, Employee Benefit Management Services Inc., recently began offering medial tourism plans to its 120 self-insured clients in the Northwest...

"I just think that others need to be aware that they are able to have a safe procedure done out of the country for a price at a third the cost," she said.

Ryerson, 61, said her private Blue Cross plan paid 80 percent of a $7,000 hip resurfacing surgery in Chennai, India, that would have been about $55,000 in the U.S. - if she could get it at all.

In 2006, the hip resurfacing device necessary for her surgery had just been approved for U.S. use by the federal Food and Drug Administration and not many domestic doctors had experience with it. Dr. Vijay Bose, her U.K.-certified surgeon in India, had performed the surgery more than 1,100 times.

"Doctors here didn't know what they didn't know and I didn't want to be a guinea pig," she said.

While she was there, Ryerson also had cosmetic surgery and dental work done at her own expense...

Dr. Bose Honored by Overseas Hip Resurfacing Patients

nospam@example.com (Patricia Walter) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:36:29 -0700

I am honored that some of my overseas patients have got together and made a plaque in appreciation of our hip surgery team and a donation for the Jay Coulter fund.

Gary Klein has come back to Chennai to get his second hip done. He brought the plaque and the donation.

I have attached a picture of the plaque.

With best regards

Vijay bose
chennai
Asian Regional Center for Hip Resurfacing (ARCH) Website