Dr. Michael Gross: My main professional goal in the next six months is to finish a research project that I’ve been working on for nearly a decade. The study challenges the traditional radiographic method that we’ve had for evaluating glenoid durability in total shoulder arthroplasty. Typically it is the glenoid component which is the weakest element for the longevity of the total shoulder. The study that I am completing is a random prospective study which began in Jan. 2002. This study employed the standard highest-quality technique for glenoid fixation and compared that method to the same approach but with the use of a vacuum assist technique to enhance the cement fixation in the glenoid vault. The durability was determined by the evaluation of fluoroscopically positioned AP x-rays at average of 35 months post operatively and is in the final stages of analysis by the statistics department at University of Nebraska’s medical center.
Since July 1986, I have broadened my horizon on the world by performing foreign medical service on a number of occasions. The organization that I work with is Health Volunteers Overseas, which focuses more on education for the long-term growth of the community rather than crisis intervention as with Doctors Without Borders. It has been five or six years since I have volunteered in Nicaragua. I knew that if I didn’t volunteer again soon I may lose my edge for this challenging type of experience. As a result, I volunteered approximately six months ago to work in Tanzania with my daughter, who’s an operating room nurse, for these last two weeks in August. I know that if I don’t follow through with this assignment, it is unlikely at this stage in my career that I will return to what has been a very satisfying part of my medical background.
Learn more about GIKK Ortho Specialists.
Read more insight from orthopedic surgeons:
– Trends in Sports Medicine: Q&A With AOSSM President Dr. Robert Stanton
– Dr. Boyd Haynes: Q&A About Virginia’s First Outpatient Total Knee Replacement
– Q&A With Dr. Robert J. Zehr, Founder of Zehr Center for Orthopaedics in Naples, FL
