MDNews - Mid Hudson

A SLATE OF COMPREHENSIVE ORTHOPEDIC SERVICES HEALTH QUEST IS committed to bringing the highest standards of orthopedic care to the Mid Hudson area. At Vassar Brothers Medical Center Orthopedic Center of Excellence, providers offer the spectrum of services, from conservative treatments to partial or full joint alignment. "For patients suffering from knee pain resulting from a previous injury or surgery, or any other orthopedic condition, our orthopedic surgeons can evaluate and recommend a treatment plan," says Mark Aierstok, MD, general orthopedic surgeon at Vassar Brothers Medical Center. "Even if patients aren't candidates for MAKOplasty, we offer nonsurgical and surgical options to increase function and decrease pain." Orthopedic services available at the Orthopedic Center of Excellence include: "MAKOplasty partial knee resurfacing gives them excellent pain relief and allows for surgical options, including total knee replacement, down the road." Older patients who may have been con- traindicated for total knee replacement surgery because of the procedure's extended recovery period and considerable postopera- tive pain may be indicated for MAKOplasty partial knee resurfacing, which gets them back on their feet the day of the procedure and returns them to routine activities faster than total knee replacement. Natural Feel, Less Invasion After conservative treatments — such as anti-inflammatory medicines, corticosteroid injections and viscosupplementation — fail to manage osteoarthritic pain, orthopedic surgeons may turn to arthroscopic surgery to repair joint cartilage and remove debris. If that doesn't corral the disease, surgeons can opt for partial knee resurfacing or total knee replacement. Because of challenges associated with traditional partial knee resurfacing tech- niques, some orthopedic surgeons have recommended total knee replacement as a front-line surgical treatment. "MAKOplasty partial knee resurfacing is a huge advantage when arthroscopy wasn't successful and patients needed some type of replacement," Dr. Stamer says. "Traditional partial knee resurfacing techniques had fallen out of favor over the years because the replacement was generally felt to be effective for as many as seven years, and then the patient had to come back to get a total replacement. That's not a long enough time frame to justify the results." But t h is inva sive t ac t ic is not always necessary. Total knee replacement not only requires significant bone and soft tissue destruction, but it also calls for the removal of both anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments. Such surgical trauma results in a great deal of postoperative pain and requires extensive rehabilitation over a lengthy recovery period. MAKOplasty partial knee resurfacing offers a better option with a more natural feeling knee after surgery. "MAKOplasty preserves more bone and ligamentous structures than total knee replacement," Dr. Lombardo says. "When I reconstruct patients' knees with partial knee replacement, they maintain more of their natural anatomy, which means their knee feels more like it did before they had osteoarthritis." The robotic assistance enables the procedure to be performed through small incisions, minimizing soft tissue dam- age — instead of removing or damaging ligaments, orthopedic surgeons simply move them out of the way. "The technology is revolutionary," says Michael Schweppe, MD, Orthopedic Associates of Dutchess County, PC, and gen- eral orthopedic surgeon at VBMC. "Patients do not have to live in pain anymore; the deci- sion to move forward with knee replacement becomes an obvious one, providing greater chances for many years of active living ahead of them following MAKOplasty." Expedited Recovery, Better Results Reduced surgical trauma results in shorter recovery times and reduced postoperative pain. "I have patients who under went MAKOplasty partial knee resurfacing, and the first day after surgery, they're able to do more than patients who had total knee replacement eight weeks after their procedures," Dr. Lombardo says. "This technique puts them far ahead of the game in rehab. They also have motion that total knee replacement does not allow." A good range of motion following tota l k nee replacement surger y is Dr. Stamer and Cheryl Robbins, RN, collaborate on a patient's plan of care. + ACL reconstruction + Anterior hip replacement + Anterior/posterior lumbar fusion + Arthroscopy + Bone densitometry for osteoporosis screening + Computer-assisted joint replacements + Custom knee replacements + Fracture repair/emergency services + Inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, including physical and occupational therapy + MAKOplasty + Medical imaging services, including state-of- the-art MRI + Pain management + Primary/revision hip and knee replacement + Rotator cuff repair + Shoulder replacement + Spine education sessions + Spine surgery (cervical, thoracic and lumbar) + Sports medicine + Total joint replacement presurgery class + Treatment of hand and wrist disorders

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