Salman Habish, 63, was the first to undergo surgery, after suffering for seven years from severe pain and erosion of the knees. Dr. Yaron Berkowitz, Director of the Orthopedics B Department, who performed the surgery: "This is a highly advanced method that allows the bone to integrate naturally into the implant without the use of glue."
Over 15,000 knee replacement surgeries are performed annually in Israel. These surgeries are usually offered to patients who have been suffering from severe knee pain and limited mobility for an extended period of time, after the conservative treatments have failed to help them.
Currently, the most common and accepted method for knee joint replacement is by using a special glue – cement, which attaches the new joint in place. During the surgery, the bone and cartilage on the articulation are removed and replaced with an implant which is set in place by the cement.
"In recent years, the approach has gained momentum according to which biological fixation of the implant is better than attaching with glue, as it may enable the implant to last for a longer time. Biological fixation is made possible by an implant coated with a three-dimensional microscopic structure that simulates the bone structure and encourages bone growth directly into the implant, without the need for glue to attach it,” notes Dr. Yaron Berkovich, Director of the Orthopedics B Department at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, who was the first to carry out the surgery.
Dr. Yaron Berkowitz together with Salman Habish who successfully underwent the innovative surgery for knee joint replacement
This week the first operation using this state-of-the-art technology was performed at Hillel Yaffe. Salman Habish, 63, a resident of Yarka, was the first to undergo surgery, after suffering for seven years from severe leg pain, swelling, and difficulties on a daily basis with going up and down stairs. "I tried all the possible alternatives – medication, orthotics, laser treatments, but nothing solved the problem long-term, and so I decided to have the surgery," Habish related. The surgery was successful and a few days later Habish was already able to walk unaided. He is expected to be released to his home within the next few days.
Dr. Berkowitz explains further that the idea behind this innovative method is to insert a kind of stick into the spongy area of the bone, and essentially allow the bone to attach itself to the implant so that, impressively, the implant is fixed into the bone and not the other way around.
This method has a number of clear advantages: shortening surgery time, biological attachment between the implant and bone, bilateral replacement, that is, simultaneous replacement of the two knees in one operation, and a faster recovery time. The method has been adopted for use primarily among young people, for whom the bone can build itself better and integrate optimally.
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