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Ankle joint salvage - A new device is designed to help some ankle patients avoid fusion or joint replacement surgery
>It's a medical first in Texas. A San Antonio man is the first person in the state to have a new kind of device implanted in his ankle. It's designed to keep him from having to have that joint fused permanently.
Allen's Schabow's ankle was a mess before his surgery. An injury left him with a deformity, an arthritic bone-on-bone joint that made him limp for months.
"You talk about seeing a 78-year-old man cry, I did," Schabow said. "It was terrible."
Last month, at Southwest General Hospital, foot and ankle specialist Dr. Bhavesh Shah used a newly-approved device to help repair Allen's problem. It's a fixator with a twist. The Rozbruch Ankle Distractor does two important things: opens the joint to promote healing while allowing movement, keeping fluid around the joint.
"That influx and efflux of fluid," said Dr. Shah of the South Texas Foot Institute, 7500 Barlite Blvd., "going in and out of the ankle joint, potentially can regrow cartilage and nourish the cartilage so in that way the patient will avoid either an ankle fusion or an implant surgery."
The space created by the device will promote healing. Schabow has already started physical therapy, weeks before the device will come off.
"We started about a week-and-a-half ago, and he says it'll be about eight weeks in it," explained Schabow, "so that's going to give us about four weeks extra working it before we take it off."< /p>
The maker of the device, Small Bone Innovations, says the best part about this new tool is that it doesn't burn any bridges.
"You could always fuse," said Dr. Shah. "Once you fuse, you can't go back. That's the end. But if there are several things we can do before we can fuse your ankle, why not try it?"
This dynamic frame technology originated in Europe and was cleared by the FDA for use in the U.S. last fall. Dr. Shah says he expects many people will opt for this technique rather than fusion or joint replacement when they hear about how it works.
