Andrew Koman, MD, has been honored with the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation clinical research award.
Dr. Koman, professor and chair of the department of orthopedic surgery at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., received the award at the 2019 annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Five things to know:
1. His research studied the impact of botulinum toxins on the musculoskeletal system over the last 30 years, defining its pharmacologic properties and recording its positive value in patients with cerebral palsy. Beth Paterson Smith, PhD, and Thomas L. Smith, PhD, were co-authors in the study.
2. Drs. Koman and Smith were the first to inject the naturally-occurring poisonous substance, botulinum A toxin, to stabilize muscle imbalance in children with cerebral palsy and found that it improved the function of the patients.
3. Dr. Koman found that the botulinum toxin increased mobility for more severe patients and reduced pain and made walking easier for less severe patients. It significantly delayed surgery, decreased hospitalizations, improved quality of life and is also cost effective.
4. He insists it’s a safe drug if used properly and in the randomized, controlled trials, found that "patients who received the placebo had more pain than the patients who had toxins."
5. Dr. Koman conducted over 100 pre-clinical and clinical trials and generated a database with over 25,000 patient years of data, which enabled researchers to study the cost impact of botulinum use and caregiver stress linked with the level of severity of cerebral palsy.