COULD THERE BE A NEW TREATMENT ON THE HORIZON???

December 11, 2003

gosh..after struggling through all the decisions..THR,

resurfacing...waiting...now i am wondering if the all-

new CELL

REGROWTH TECHNOLOGY will translate into a FIX for we,

the femorally

fragile and socket-challenged...without ANY prosthesis

WHATSOEVER?

i may be a tad off in my interpretation..but let me

explain...and if

anyone has any idea what i am talking about...please

feel free to

jump in here.

about three weeks ago Dan Rather, i believe it was,

did a segment

about knee surgery...that will completely eliminate

the need for a

prosthesis in knee replacement surgery. it went like

this....

evidently medical science can well fix about any

damaged bone (via

bone grafts, etc.) the problem with joints, though, is

and was, the

cartilage..which needs to be autogolous (sp?)...from

within one's one

body..because the body will reject that of a donor.

SO...the good

docs at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston

(harvards medical

facility) developed a technique whereby they can (two

weeks prior to

repair surgery) extract a couple of pieces of your own

cartilage...send it to a lab...and grow pounds of it,

if needed.

they then repair the bone in the joint, insert your

own regrown

cartilage..and after three months off the joint begin

therapy and

within three more months that joint is AS GOOD AS

NEW....WITHOUT ANY

PROSTHESIS AT ALL. this has only been done on the

knees..but in the

news segment they said..that they would be trying this

on other

joints there....now that the most difficult of joint...the knee...

responded with such tremendous

success. did anyone here see this and interpret it in

the same way?

i am wondering if the hip joint is not next??? they

said they would

be testing this surgery on other joints (hips???) and

if

successful...that in all but the most extremely

damaged

joints...there eventually might NEVER be a need for a

mechanical

joint in any part of the body, again.

i don't know if i am wishfully dreaming or not..but, i

am wondering

why there has been no follow up in the news, as the

two " guinea pigs "

they featured in the newsreel are obviously doing just

fine with the

procedure..up and running, so to speak..one touting a 50

year old body

with the knees of a newborn baby. is there anyone out

there who might be seeing a

surgeon in boston at brigham's??? wonder how we can

find out???

metallurgically disinclined,

MLW

(needing a left and probably a right by the time i get

over my fear)

December 11, 2003

In a message dated 12/11/2003 2:18:35 PM Pacific Standard Time,

lylemenendezoneword@... writes:

metallurgically disinclined,

Dear metallurgically disinclined:

I asked my surgeon, Mr. Treacy, about this when I saw him to discuss a second

resurf about a year ago. I had that resurf in May, 2003 and had heard about

the use of cartilage growth.

His response was that while the cartilage growth option was working with

knees, he was extremely skeptical about it working with hips. I'd be fabricating

if I told you I knew the actual reason, but I believe it had to do with the

fact that the anatomy of the hip joint as an " internal " less-exposed structure

would make the operation and the cartilage growth very difficult.

In any event, while I would personally have loved to pursue a

non-metallurgical solution, those of us in extreme pain have to face the fact

that these

procedures sometimes take decades to develop beyond the experimental stages. One

has merely to look at the development of resurfacing to recognize the time

problem.

Therefore while a way may be discovered some time in the future to do this,

those of us who would need either a resurf or a THR within the next 5 to 10

years are most likely not going to be able to take advantage of it because we

simply can't (or couldn't) wait that long.

Des Tuck

Bilateral and glad about it.

December 11, 2003

You are so right, when you think about it, some mechanical problem wearing

out the cartilage is still there if the cartilage is replaced. Thus, more

wearing. Before i decided on hip resurfacing, i spent a great deal of time

researching for cartilage replacement. I believe that the treatment would be to

correct the mechanical problem before the cartilage wears away, then perhaps

encourage it to regrow itself.

peggy gabriel

bilateral

Dr.De Smet

December 11, 2003

All the more reason to not have the balls of your hips amputated, as we may

be eligable for a lot of new procedures in the future!

December 11, 2003

I've been reading the posts about cartilage replacement with some interest.

I don't mean to sound negative about the concept, but I guess I don't

understand what the advantages are.

Is the surgery less invasive?

Is the replacement cartilage stronger and longer lasting then metal?

Is there less chance of needing revisions in the future?

Is the replacement cartilage capable of surviving, growing and self repair

after it is placed?

Is the recovery more rapid and less uncomfortable?

Will the new cartilage survive and thrive under the same conditions that

destroyed the original tissue?

I guess it sounds more " natural " not to have a metal joint instead of a

cartilage joint but is that a real clinical advantage? I'm not saying it

isn't! I just am curious why it is so desirable?

Mike Trautman

C2K, Kennedy, Sep 03

December 11, 2003

My understanding on the cartilage replacement idea is that it might

only be a permanent solution for someone who has injured their

cartilage in an accident or overuse that will not continue in the

future.

That is joint cartilage is a living thing that is continually being

worn away and replaced, and if there is something wrong with the

cartilage maintenance system in your body the replacement cartilage,

even if it " took " , would be worn away faster than replacement just

like your original equipment. If you replace a damaged spot in your

lawn with a piece of sod, it will work if the thing that didn't

damage the sod in the first place doesn't recur. If you don't remove

the source of the problem (too much foot traffic, disease, bugs),

you're just going to be replacing the sod every few weeks.

It seems that most of us here have things like AVN, ankylosing

spondylitis, RA, etc. Osteoarthritis might be a grey area.

December 12, 2003

All the more reason to not have the balls of your hips amputated, as we may

be eligable for a lot of new procedures in the future!

December 12, 2003

----- Original Message -----

> Right on, there are new materials on the horizon, carbon plastic is one

such, the claims for it are:- Longer lasting , low wear rate, more

resilient, kinder to the body, i/e less risk of cancer, it is already in

production for some smaller joints, lighter material, bends rather than

breaks.

> resurfaced,11/8/03 Dr. V.J. Bose Apollo hospital Chennai India.

Neat concept, but....

I for one would be very reluctant to accept the hardest most abrasive

substance known combined with long chain complex organic molecules within a

joint subject to wear and tear over many years. Talk about risk... less is

known about the effects these esoteric resins and their carcinogenic

potential then most other implantable materials. I worry about the

irritation / inflammation potential if carbon particles are released due to

wear too.

I don't mean to pan the research. I'm as excited about advances in

implantable materials as anyone. Just be careful about embracing new

technology. Until someone proves these materials are better, I'll take my

over engineered, durable metal joint and it's cute little theoretical ions

any day.