Peter Spohn, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Hazleton, Pa., is among the first in the U.S. to perform a new osteoporosis procedure, the Standard-Speaker reports.
Here are four things to know.
1. Dr. Spohn used the new technique earlier this year on a patient with severe osteoporosis. At the time, only 100 of the procedures had been performed nationwide.
2. The procedure targets the hip. A surgeon uses an instrument to inject a slow-setting cement intended to secure a metal implant to the femur. The cement fills small cracks in the head of the femur.
3. The surgery is designed to create an improved bond between the bone and implant, since securing a metal implant is difficult if bones are highly osteoporotic, and screws could become loose.
4. Dr. Spohn said that typical candidates for the procedure have a history of fractures caused by advanced osteoporosis.
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