Song in my head: between Iraq and a hard place......The Capitol Steps


ALTER-ABLED NEWS

Surgeon at Scripps Clinic Implants One-of-a-Kind ?Electronic Knee? ? Revolutionizing Research in Knee Implant Technology

Medical history was made recently when a surgeon from the Scripps Clinic Division of Orthopaedic Surgery implanted into a patient a total knee prosthesis that has the ability to directly measure forces that occur within the knee. This type of prosthesis has never before been implanted in a living patient and is expected to generate information that will lead to major advances in knee implant design. |link|

Maybe one day Nail-Patella Syndrome patients can be helped by a total knee replacement. About half of us NPSers have no knee cap at all, while others have a reduced knee cap size. The knee caps are often mis-aligned and held by tendons and ligaments that are attached incorrectly which would make such an operation trickier (see picture). However, the osteoarthritis that develops over time in our mal-formed knees causes mobility and chronic pain issues. Hip replacement has also been recommended to some Nail-Patella Syndrome patients.

The next Nail Patella Syndrome Worldwide conference will be in Las Vegas, July 30 and 31st, 2004.