docs in chicago area

[zimby]

has anyone heard of Dr. Dalla Valle out of Rush in chicago? he has over 100 resurfacings under his belt.  would appreciate any testimonials or referrals in my area. thanks.

[Pat Walter]

Welcome to Hip Talk.

I don't have any patient stories about Dr. Valla.  I have a few from some other surgeons in Illinois.

I always suggest using the most expeirnced surgeons you can travel to.  Few of us use surgeons in our own home town since hip resurfacing surgery is very diffiuclt and few surgeons have developed the skill to do the surgery well.  I always suggest using a surgeon that has done many hundreds to thousands.  There have been some problems with revisions recently and most of them are due to surgeon error not placing the acetaular cups properly.  If the cup is not placed at the proper angle, the too much wear results from the wearing of the two bearing surfaces between the cup and cap - then that high metal wear creates high metal ions which cause pain, problems, pseudo tumors and always a revision.

The best way to prevent having problems is to use the surgeons with a lot of experience.  100 resurfacings is the benchmark I use to place a surgeon on my list, but they are often still in a learning curve that early on.  The retention rate of the BHR before the US surgeons started doing resurfacing was 99.9%, then the new US surgeons jumped in and it dropped to 96%  I have the information on the website.  So to make sure you are not one of the 4 out of 100 patients with problems and revisions - use a surgeon that is very experinced.  I have had emails from a few requiring revisions that said - "if only I had listened to the recommendation of using the experinced surgeons"   There are more stories here about revsions and on on the Yahoo surface hippy discussion group.

So look at the list and consider using the top surgeons. One of the more experinced surgeons in your area would be Dr. Rogerson of WI.  He has a lot of happy patients and has a rehab facility similar to my surgeon Dr. De Smet of Belgium who has done over 3000 resurfacings.  Many others traveled to Dr. Gross of SC, Dr. Mont of MD, Dr. Su of NY and some of the surgeons in CA.  Look at the list and see who is really experienced.

Good luck and stay in touch.

Pat

[Buster]

Dr. Della Valle resurfaced my right hip on 12/18/09.  Tomorrow will be 2 months and I feel great.  I can put my socks on, tie my shoes and even clip my toe nails.  I would think he has way more than 100 by now as he is in great demand.  I had to wait 6 weeks to see him and another 2 months for the surgery.  He was just appointed to the hip society and is a professor at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Rush.  Google Midwest Orthopedics at Rush to see their web site.