Last Thursday, Kathryn and I had the opportunity to observe a few surgeries, courtesy of Dr. Pierre Goebel. Kristin and Dr. Wasser helped make the initial contact for us.
We observed a total knee and total hip arthroplasty (see picture above): two very exciting procedures. Personally, I enjoyed the knee arthroplasty more because we were able to observe much more. With a hip replacement, there is one incision and all the work is done through a cut in the side of the leg. Unless you have a good window of opportunity, the view is usually obstructed by the surgeon working. However, with a knee replacement, the joint is completely exposed for everyone in the room to see. Also, the procedure for a knee replacement uses some very interesting tools. The surgeon will attach a cutting block to the end of the femur and use a bone saw to shave the end of it almost into a cube. He attaches a similar block to cut off the end of the tibia and make sure the leg has proper alignment. In order to stabilize the bottom half of the prosthesis, a rod must be inserted into the tibia, which means a hole must be drilled. Let's just say, I was impressed by the size of the drill that was
used. Dr. Goebel was kind enough to allow pictures.
See how the knee is totally exposed? Pretty cool huh?
Dr. Goebel was extremely helpful by answering any questions we had about the procedure, recovery, the differences in prosthetic devices, where to find a good Irish pub in Bonn, the effects of using a cemented vs. non-cemented prostheses, and anything else that happened to come up in conversation.
I'll be going back this week to view a shoulder replacement, so look for a blog post about that and more pictures in the upcoming week.
Until next time..
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