A leading North East surgeon wants to encourage young arthritis patients that they may not need a knee replacement.
Matt Dawson, who works at Newcastle 's Nuffield Hospital, is an international expert in osteotomy - a kind of surgery which allows some patients with arthritis to avoid a knee replacement and instead have their legs and knees "realigned" - and wants to make sure as many potential patients as possible know about the procedure.
Mr Dawson - a consultant surgeon who works at the Nuffield in Jesmond and in the NHS in Cumbria - said the surgery involves old-fashioned techniques which have gone out of fashion in recent decades, along with state-of-the-art implant technology. Osteotomy is a procedure where "the bone just above or beneath the joint" is cut and the pieces are "created into new positions".
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The surgeon said this procedure is only appropriate for some patients - but he's on a mission to raise awareness among doctors and patients alike. It can be offered both on the NHS and privately depending on the decisions of the medics concerned.
"To put this into context, the osteotomy procedure is nothing new," he said. "But this was kind of washed out with the bath water. People thought [replacements] were the only thing to do. But that's not the only thing to be thinking about."
Whether osteotomy is appropriate will depend on a patient's arthritis, their age and physical condition, and even how they walk - but Mr Dawson said in the right patients it enables them to keep their own knee joint and stay more mobile for longer. He said this had obvious health and wellbeing benefits.
He added: "It's about education for patients. Now you are able to influence your own health much more than in the past. We are trying to empower and educate patients. It's about making sure people know what's available. It's about promoting health and wellbeing and patients should know what the choice is.
"Over the last 15 to 20 years, if I'm any sort of pioneer it's only because of beating that drum."
Nuffield Health in Newcastle is working with Mr Dawson to raise the profile of osteotomy, which medics believe could close the "treatment gap" for people suffering from knee pain who currently won’t qualify for knee replacement or would like to avoid a replacement due to their active lifestyle.
The surgeon continued: "The principles of osteotomy surgery are founded in basic science and have been practiced for hundreds of years. Modern osteotomy surgery has evolved into a powerful tool which gives an option to the active patient without a restriction on age. The patient can choose in many instances between a knee replacement or an osteotomy. Problems patients may suffer with arthritis, ligament injury or cartilage damage can all benefit hugely from the effects of osteotomy."
Nuffield Health Newcastle sales and services manager Alex Seward adds: "We are thrilled to be working together with Matt on bringing Osteotomy and joint preservation education closer to both medical staff and the general population.
"The benefits of Osteotomy are closely aligned with Nuffield Health’s core values and goals to provide our patients with cutting-edge treatment that will enable them to continue to live healthier and happier lives and help us build a healthier nation."
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