New Ground-breaking Joint Replacement Procedures Mark A Significant Milestone In The Treatment Of Severe Joint Disruptions And End-stage Arthritis

Fitzpatrick Referrals unveiled on Friday, details of its pioneering joint replacement program, with innovative solutions for replacing badly injured and arthritic knees, shoulders, and hocks in addition to the more commonly replaced hip and elbow joints. This is a dramatic breakthrough bringing new hope to veterinary surgeons and pet owners in otherwise hopeless cases. These procedures have been developed as a solution for joints with traumatic global joint disruptions involving significant soft tissue damage and for joints with painful end-stage arthritis, with the objective of providing functional, pain free quality of life. Joint replacement represents a viable, robust and resilient surgical solution to the problem of end stage joint disorder or disease and seeks to restore mechanical function and abolish pain by implanting a substitute joint, as seen in the three case studies presented here. Joint replacement plays an increasingly important role in the battle against painful debilitating arthritis in the human patient, restoring function and reducing dependence on pain killers. Recent information revealed that in UK, in one year 1:500 of the total population had a hip or knee replacement. As we understand and try to deal with the problem of painful osteoarthritis in our pet animals it seems likely that there will be a larger role for joint replacement. Already hip replacement is used to great benefit in the majority of patients that receive it. Other damaged joints could be treated in the same way – but until now the technology to replace knee, hock, shoulder and elbow joints with custom designed prostheses to exactly fit each and every patient did not exist. At Fitzpatrick Referrals this is now a reality for both cats and dogs. Joint replacement is particularly useful when a multi-modal approach is used to try and manage osteoarthritis through-out the life of the animal, an area where The Fitzpatrick Group has an increased interest and a variety of publications in peer-reviewed journals. It also offers a realistic alternative to either fusion or amputation in traumatically injured joints. Fitzpatrick Referrals strives to find new and better ways of improving life for animals and these innovative procedures mark a significant milestone in the treatment of end-stage arthritis, giving viable options to pet owners in cases where there are few other options and situations that may result in severe pain or loss of life.

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