Putting Fat Cells to Use in Orthopedics

Arthroscopic knee surgery for degenerative knee disease is a common orthopedic procedure, reportedly performed more than two million times a year globally. And these are just the statistics for knee procedures. The shoulder, hip, wrist, elbow, and ankle joints are all also candidates for arthroscopic surgeries. A few studies have cast doubt about whether such surgeries are necessary. It is true that most of the time, patients report lessening of pain after the procedures. But could this be just a placebo effect? In the case of osteoarthritis in the knee, there is no evidence that arthroscopy cures or arrests the osteoarthritis. In a controlled trial, the outcomes after arthroscopic lavage or arthroscopic débridement were no better than those after a placebo procedure. Another randomized trial conducted in 2016, found that, among patients with a degenerative medial meniscus tear, knee arthroscopy was no better than exercise therapy. In shoulder procedures, a randomized study of 313 patients across 32 hospitals showed that real surgery compared with both placebo surgery and no intervention at all were clinically equal in addressing shoulder pain. A recently introduced and FDA-cleared technology may offer a minimally invasive alternative to arthroscopy for repairing tissue, and it could also be used an additional step to arthroscopic surgeries to support soft tissue defects. Lipogems offers a microfragmente...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Orthopedics Source Type: news