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Joint repair a common occurrence with Eglin orthopedics

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  • By 2nd Lt. Andrew Caulk
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  96th Medical Group doctors hone their skills performing complex and sometimes innovative surgical procedures daily to help to keep Eglin personnel healthy.

Orthopedics is just one of the specialty clinics here. This clinic's surgeons examine and treat joints through surgery and other means. Replacing a joint in the human body is a one to two-hour process that Eglin surgeons do regularly.

"The most frequent surgeries involve any mechanical joint," said Lt Col. Bradley Goeke. "The doctors see hips and knees replaced most frequently with shoulder, wrist and elbow surgeries occurring often as well."

People's knees often wear out on the inside first, said Ryan Savage, a joint replacement company representative. A partial knee is also 10 percent less expensive than a full knee replacement.

A partial knee replacement reduces surgery time slightly and recovery time from an approximate four-night hospital stay to one, according to Colonel Goeke.

"I've had patients go back to work in 10 to 14 days from a partial knee versus six to 12 weeks. The recovery is much easier and is much less painful," said Colonel Goeke. "The partial also feels much more like the patient's own knee."

Colonel Goeke and Lt. Col. Anthony Brothers led a partial knee replacement surgery Oct. 7.

A surgery like a partial knee replacement requires two surgeons, an anesthesiologist, two technicians, one nurse and a joint replacement hardware company representative.

The surgeons are just the front men to an intricate operation. A skilled surgical team backs them up and keeps the surgery moving. Without the technicians handing the tools and instruments, the anesthesiologist monitoring the patient or the joint replacement representative working with the doctors to choose just the right piece, the surgery would last hours longer and be very difficult.

"You have to trust your team," said Colonel Brothers.

The team sedates the patient, maps knee contours, and opens the knee to begin the surgery.

"We have to inspect the ligaments once we get the knee open," said Colonel Goeke.

The partial knee replacement can continue if the ligaments are still good. Otherwise, the partial knee replacement becomes a full replacement.

After making the cuts, the surgeon works with the joint company's representative to pick out trial hardware. The surgeon uses this hardware to test the joint's motion. Once the surgeon is satisfied with the joint motion, he replaces the trial hardware with permanent hardware and cements it in place. The femur cap is a mirror-finished metal half sphere and, when in place, looks like a mirror in the knee.

He then checks the joint again for movement and closes up the knee.

"The surgery went well," said Colonel Goeke about the Oct. 7 procedure. "The knee has good tension and flexion. Before the surgery the patient could only extend their leg about [three-quarters] of the way."

After healing the patient will have full flexibility in the repaired knee, according to the doctor.

The entire hospital staff and leadership make this and other services possible.

"We've been very lucky here at Eglin," said Colonel Brothers. "We've had commanders who were pro surgery and pro keeping up with technology."

The hospital hosts a number of specialty facilities such as vascular, podiatry, pulmonology, plastic surgery, osteopathy, oncology, neurology, cardiology, and developmental pediatrics.