Prosthetic joint infection (PJI) is a dreaded complication of joint replacement surgery. Any symptoms of fever and discharge from the surgery site warrant a thorough investigation. The diagnosis of joint replacement infection usually involves a history, physical...
Hip and knee joint replacement surgeries are one of the most successful surgeries in the history of modern medicine. The surgeries relieve the pain and disability caused by arthritis not amicable by conservative management options. But like all surgeries, there is are...
A clinical case, 70 year old male presents with L4-5 degenerative spondylolisthesis, severe spinal stenosis L4-5, treated conservatively with multiple epidural injections. Had relief at some point of time, but deteriorates. So these patient’s natural history is...
These are the non-fusion decompression surgeries. So these are the patients who have stable spine, who have single or multiple level stenosis. These can even be done at all five levels of decompression. These are done from the back essentially. This is central...
Differential diagnosis can be anything from SI joint, visceral pathologies, hip, knee, neuropathies, and in fact, most patients who are in the older age group usually need a neurological consult also. They get a pain physician who will help them get epidural...
Next we have the lumbar spine. The next most mobile segment of our spine. Lumbar spine has five lumbar vertebrae, and it articulates with sacrum below. So actually sacrum also comes into the same gambit. Read more about Back Pain here
This is a degenerative spondylolisthesis. This is also a degenerative condition, essentially though it can happen in young, but it’s a desiccation, disc desiccation which causes this, leading with annular tear, posterior PLL (Posterior Longitudinal Ligament)...
So what are the non-fusion surgeries on lumbar spine? These are essentially done for fractures, kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty. These are patients who have what you call a compression fracture. They have no breach posteriorly, sometimes we did do them on the patients...
So, last slide. This is who needs spine surgery, finally. So cervical radiculopathy. So cervical radiculopathy – not relieved for four weeks despite measures, epidural injections, medications. Lumbar radiculopathy not relieved for four to six weeks. This should...
Presentation: Dermatomal Presentations. So most of the patients with spine pathologies will have some back pain, but more of radiculopathy. And radiculopathies patients who have radiculopathy do better with surgical treatment. The dermatomal level status where the...
So what are the non-fusion surgeries on lumbar spine? These are essentially done for fractures: kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty. These are patients who have a vertebral compression fracture. They have no breach posteriorly. Sometimes we did do them on the patients who...
These are the usual fusion surgeries. There’s a whole gambit of fusion surgeries. Now, we can go from front, back, side, lateral, this, that everything, what we can find an angle, we can go do a fusion surgery. This is the most common one, TLIF. We go from the...
Hip and knee replacement surgeries have transformed the treatment of arthritis. Hip replacement is a surgery to replace the diseased parts of the hip joint with metal and plastic parts. The prosthetic parts duplicate the function of the natural, healthy joint. The...
Total hip replacement has revolutionized the treatment of hip pain resulting from arthritis. The hip pain may severely affect daily activities such as walking, bending, sitting, navigating stairs, or driving a car. The symptom which is often not discussed with the...
Long term alcohol intake is a common cause of avascular necrosis of the head of the femur. Chronic steroid intake and alcohol account for more than 60% of non-traumatic causes of avascular necrosis in the United States. Avascular necrosis commonly affects the head of...
Femoroacetabular impingement is treated with arthroscopic surgery or with open surgical dislocation and debridement. Signs You May Need Surgical Hip Dislocation The surgical hip dislocation is a unique procedure typically reserved in elective cases for people...
During this “coronavirus time” and we really want everybody to stay at home. We are doing everything possible to practice social distancing to keep patients and our doctors and staff safe during this tough time. Before giving patients an appointment to “physically”...
What can patients with pain in their joint or pain in knee or shoulder or hip or any other musculoskeletal pain do to decrease their pain as well as improve their quality of life during these circumstances of COVID-19 pandemic? Patients who have pain in any part of...
What can patients with cervical or lumbar radiculopathy (Sciatica) do to decrease their pain and improve their quality of life during these circumstances of COVID-19 pandemic? Patients with radiculopathy either cervical or lumbar (also known as Sciatica) have mild to...
I had a patient from Canada who underwent hip replacement surgery on both sides and he emailed me these tips to pass along… Get dental work done 8 weeks before surgery Talk to your family physician to ensure he/she is willing to do follow-up when you get home....
