This week was well balanced between OR, clinic, and research experiences. I spent both Monday and Wednesday in the OR watching hip and knee replacement surgeries. However, some cases this week were slightly different than those in previous weeks. I observed a case involving the removal of previously installed and unrelated hardware before the total knee replacement, and saw how they dealt with the extra factors due to this hardware. Additionally, I observed a surgery on a woman with underlying conditions that made her joints particularly stiff and how they navigated that environment differently than those in people who have typical joint environments. The last new thing I observed in the OR was a patella resurfacing, which is a type of knee revision surgery that involves only altering the patella button of the implant. The importance of this type of revision is in removing excess discomfort from movements like walking up stairs. It's fascinating to see the impact that such a small component can have on the overall success of a joint replacement!
On Tuesday, I went to the clinic, where most of the appointments were follow-ups. In these appointments, Dr. Bostrom assesses the patient's joint flexion, extension, and overall ease of movement. There is a variation in results dependent on how well the patients are adhering to the rehabilitation plans. Thursday and Friday were spent researching; I added the edits I had previously discussed to my 3D printed device, adding more femur support and moving components further up the board to fit the dimensions of female mice. Lastly, on Friday, I also attended a presentation by the HSS Biomechanics department titled: "Quantitative Knee Laxity Post TKA and its relation to Patient Reported Outcomes". This presentation was very insightful for determining the correlation between patient-reported outcomes in PROM questionnaires with actual laxity in the implanted joint.
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