Topics included knee replacement, osteoarthritis, radiofrequency ablation, ankle arthritis and ankle surgery
C. Lan Fotopoulos, M.D., and James P. Halloran, M.D., spoke Saturday at an event sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
The foundation’s “Arthritis 101” seminar drew more than 150 people to the Jewish Community Center in Leawood.
Dr. Fotopoulos, a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician (also known as an interventional physiatrist), spoke about minimally invasive treatment of chronic knee pain. He said 25 percent of adults suffer from knee pain, with osteoarthritis being the leading cause. Treatment options range from injections and arthroscopic procedures to partial knee replacement and total knee replacement.
He discussed one conservative treatment, radiofrequency ablation, also known as RFA. Dr. Fotopoulos has been performing the procedure for about two years and teaching the procedure to other physicians for about 18 months. He said RFA candidates include patients who have exhausted their use of conservative options, such as knee injections and exercises.
Dr. Halloran, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in foot and ankle conditions and sports medicine, spoke about treatment options for ankle arthritis. Although somewhat rare, ankle arthritis typically stems from traumatic injury, such as an ankle fracture, severe ankle sprain, or repetitive ankle sprains.
Non-operative treatment options include modification of activities, weight loss, exercise, and physical therapy. Operative options include ankle fusion, which could be a durable option for some patients, as well as total ankle replacement.
Ankle replacement surgery has become an option. U.S. surgeons have been performing a new generation of ankle replacements for about 10 years, so there is little longitudinal data on the surgery’s outcome over time. Dr. Halloran is one of the few surgeons in the Kansas City area performing ankle replacement surgery.
The primary difficulty with any foot surgery is the recovery period, Dr. Halloran said.
For more information about physicians and treatment options available at Dickson-Diveley Orthopaedics, call 913-319-7600 or submit a contact request online.
