DENVER, Colo. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — From seniors in high school to senior citizens … each year more than one hundred thousand people will need a shoulder replacement. For older adults, arthritis is the main reason for severe shoulder pain. For younger people rotator cuff tears can lead to a replacement. But the younger you have surgery, the more likely the replacement parts will wear out or fail. But now there’s a new FDA approved implant that is changing the game.
“I’ve never missed a service in 30 years,” recalled Father Jordan Brown, priest at the Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Metropolis Cathedral of Denver.
He knew he wanted to be a priest since he was 16.
“I love serving the church,” said Father Brown.
But he was also just a teenager when he first hurt his left shoulder. Decades later — the pain almost cost him his calling.
“I’ll start with the baptism, holding an infant was excruciating pain,” Father Brown told Ivanhoe.
He was the perfect candidate for a newly FDA approved shoulder replacement — made of a pyrocarbon not the traditional metallic and plastic.
Rose Medical Center Orthopedic Surgeon and Shoulder Specialist Armodios (Armand) Hatzidakis, MD, explained, “The weak link is that plastic. So if you’re older and you’re not very active, that plastic’s fine. It’ll last your whole life. But when you’re young, like Father Brown, he was 59 when I did his shoulder replacement. You have years to live with a shoulder and that’s a complication.”
The ball will move, causing wear and tear and patients end up needing a second replacement surgery. But the new pyrocarbon head has the same feel as bone.
“The biocarbon graphite substrate is a lot more like bone than metal is. So it cooperates better with the native bone. That’s the real breakthrough in the technology,” Dr. Hatzidakis said.
Now, Father Brown is not only back in the pulpit, but also physically stronger than he’s been in years.
“A year ago my arms were shaking to do a pushup. Now I have no problem. Like this Sunday I’ll be holding the challis for 30 to 45 minutes,” Father Brown said.
Dr. Hatzidakis was the leader of the implants study for the FDA. He says he doesn’t see the normal wear and tear of the shoulder eight to ten years after surgery, even though his patients are very active.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Matt Goldschmidt, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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Source:
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/treatment/shoulder-joint-replacement/
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Mallory Boyd
Clinical Outcomes Team at Western Orthopaedics
(303) 321-1333
If this story or any other Ivanhoe story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com
