A new procedure is offering physicians a way to fix subchondral fractures in the joints.
Matthew Rogell, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Danbury-based Connecticut Family Orthopedics, performs subchondroplasty for appropriately indicated patients with stress fractures instead of a more aggressive options and total joint replacement.
The procedure uses AccuFill, an injectable bone graft substitute, to fill voids or gaps in the skeletal system. It fills the bone defects, crystallizes and forms a scaffold in the bone. The compound promotes growth and during the healing process new bone replaces it.
The process has been revolutionary for Dr. Rogell and his patients.
"In the past we had few options for patients who had defects in the bone or for patients who otherwise would've needed a larger surgery," he says. "This allows us to do an arthroscopic procedure to fill bone voids and help repair damage around the joints."
For his patients, the difference in recovery times between subchondroplasty and total knee replacement is drastic. According to the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, a patient undergoing a total knee replacement procedure would need three to six months to recover, with mobility returning around two to three weeks.
With subchondroplasty, the procedure takes 30-minutes in an outpatient setting under regional anesthesia. The patient is then on crutches for three to five days with full recovery expected in four to six weeks.
Patients are responding positively to the procedure. In a 2015 study in the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine surveying 50 patients who had undergone subchondroplasty, 88 percent experienced an improvement in their pain; 72 percent experienced an improvement in pain-free walking distance and 86 percent would recommend the procedure to a family or friend.
Subchondroplasty can last for several years, and will allow for partial or total joint replacement in the future, if necessary.
The procedure is beneficial to providers as well. Subchondroplasty allows providers to spend less time in the operating room, saving money for their affiliated healthcare organizations.
Although an alternative to other surgical procedures, subchondroplasty is not appropriate for all patients. Dr. Rogell prefers to look at it as "another tool in my toolbag."
"It's a minimally invasive, low complexity surgery with minimal risk that allows patients to return with less pain and more function than other invasive surgeries," Dr. Rogell says.
Click here for more information on Zimmer Biomet's Accufil.