A pioneering Mayo-based surgeon — who was the first specialist in the world outside the United States to undertake a revolutionary new hip replacement — offered hundreds of colleagues a live insight into the technique. A live satellite link took place on Wednesday (May 26 ) between the orthopaedic unit at Mayo General Hospital and one of the world’s premier international joint replacement conferences in Rome. The broadcast allowed orthopaedic expert Mr Derek Bennett to demonstrate the technique and components which make the breakthrough operation so successful.
The Tri-Lock Bone Preservation Stem (BPS ) device contains an artificial hip joint engineered to the highest standards currently possible. However it is not fixed onto the patient’s body using cement, as are many traditional hip replacements. Instead, the device has a revolutionary trabecular titanium coating that has been specifically designed to mirror the porous and spong’ nature of human bone.
Once the procedure is completed, the pre-existing bone in the femur actually grows into the artificial joint’s surface. Such an approach delivers a strong and natural connection that preserves and mimics the body’s natural anatomy.
Mr Bennett said he had not been daunted by performing the procedure for such a large and select group of peers, who also asked questions and made comments directly to him during the operation on a two-way audio link. It is the first time an Irish hospital has been used as a reference point for excellence in orthopaedics in this way. “I was being observed by some very experienced hip surgeons from globally-renowned facilities whose collective experience runs into the hundreds of thousands of joint replacements,” he said. “However, since becoming the first surgeon outside America to put in a Tri-Lock BPS, at Mayo General Hospital in June 2009, I have put in almost 100 here and in the Galway Clinic where I also work.
Mr Bennett paid tribute to the manager of Mayo General Hospital, Charlie Meehan, and his predecessor Tony Canavan, for encouraging staff to develop its orthopaedic unit into what has now been recognised as a global centre of expertise and excellence. “Clearly work of this nature cannot be performed without the commitment of a large team of dedicated professionals. With the help of staff and administrators, we have set up an international visiting surgeon programme in which experienced orthopaedic surgeons from all over Europe can travel to Castlebar and enhance their surgical skills and learn the latest techniques.”
