Hello Pat,
I see that both Dr Amstutz and Dr DeSmet are now doing Conserve plus cement-less. It would be interesting to see what you could come up with on this. Did Conserve get a dual coating (plasma spray titanium and hydroxyapatite) on the inside of the cap like Biomet? If not, what are they using for bone fixation? How extensively are these two doctors shifting to cement-less? With your connections in the field, especially with Dr DeSmet, this might be a nice opportunity to get the word out on this fairly major shift. It would seem to be pretty significant if both of these leaders in the field have started to make the move to cement-less.
Thanks for your efforts to keep all of us up to date.
John
Hi John
I think you are jumping to conculsions that if Dr. De Smet is doing one cementless Wright C+ for a patient that requested it - that he is now doing them on a regular basis. I don't believe one means he will be doing them all cementless now. I don't know about Dr. Amstutz since he normally doesn't talk to me much at the courses.
Please don't assume this is a MAJOR SHIFT. If and when I hear more from Dr. De Smet, I will share that information. For now, I believe he is still doing cemented BHRs and Wright C+s. There have been a couple other surgeons do a cementless because a patient was allergic to bone cement, but they are not doing them ongoing. They are still doing cemented hip resurfacing.
I don't know at all about the Conserve + cementless device since it is not FDA approved in the US. Sorry I can't tell you more now. If I learn more, I would certainly share the information.
Pat
John and Pat,
Not only might you want to know more about the uncemented C+, but so would I!
I requested an uncemented device. This is my decision. Dr. De Smet suggested a few that were available, with minimal preference, and said that the uncemented version of the C+ would be available at the time of my operation. So we must assume he is not doing it now.
His preference for me, it seems would have been the cemented version of the C+, and he emphasized that he has considerably less follow up with uncemented devices.
Only after I specifically acknowledged this did he agree to do me an uncemented device.
So, with
* my desire for uncemented,
* Dr. De Smet as exponent of C+,
* the availability of uncemented C+ at the time of my operation,
I have chosen the uncemented C+.
With this possibly bold decision, I am glad to be conservative as well in that Dr. De Smet will be doing it. I am not nervous as many people might be beforehand. I am excited.
Dan.
Hi Dan
I wrote to Dr. De Smet to find out if he has been or will be doing many uncemented hip resurfacings. Last year at the Hip Resurfacing course - he was still not interested in doing them since they did not have much of a track record yet. Perhaps, he is now changing his mind. I will know more when he writes to me. He usually doesn't write a lot, so I may not have much to share. I will be able to talk with him this fall at the Hip Resurfacing Course, if he attends.
Pat