Prickett on Becker’s List of 65 Outstanding Shoulder Surgeons and Specialists

11 Aug 2011 Doctors, Media, William Prickett , ,

Chicago – Becker’s Orthopedic, Spine & Pain Management Review is pleased to announce the inclusion of Dr. William Prickett on its list: “65 Outstanding Shoulder Surgeons and Specialists”. The physicians on this list were selected based on their expertise in shoulder surgery, leadership positions, excellent research and reputation among other shoulder specialists. The editorial team publicly solicited recommendations for this list and chose additional physicians through extensive internal research. Physicians do not pay and cannot pay for inclusion on this list.

William D. Prickett, MD (Tucson Orthopaedic Institute)

Dr. Prickett has clinical and research interests in sports medicine and shoulder surgery. He has authored several articles on topics such as shoulder instability in athletes. Dr. Prickett earned his medical degree at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and completed his orthopedic surgery residency at Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis. His additional training includes a sports medicine and shoulder service fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. He has also spent time working with the New York Giants. During his career, he has given several presentations at professional meetings of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons.

The Becker’s editorial team devised the list after extensive research and public solicitation for outstanding candidates. The list was also vetted through shoulder specialists from around the country before finalization. Members of the list are often leaders of their groups, winners of prestigious research awards and team physicians for professional athletes. Each member of the list underwent rigorous review before inclusion as an outstanding specialist in the field of shoulder surgery.

We congratulate each physician selected for inclusion on this list. If you would like to learn more about this list or future lists slated for publication in Becker’s Orthopedic, Spine & Pain Management Review, please contact assistant editor Laura Miller at laura@beckersasc.com.

Becker’s Orthopedic, Spine & Pain Management Review is an online and print publication with a target audience of physicians, group leaders and industry experts. The online publication receives more than 147,000 pageviews per month and the print publication circulates four times per year. The publication also sends out free electronic newsletters twice weekly.

Zeiller Receives NMC’s Perioperative Physician of the Month Award

1 Aug 2011 Doctors, Media, Steven Zeiller

The OR staff at Northwest Medical Center presented the August 2011 Perioperative Physician of the Month Award to Dr. Steven Zeiller because of his commitment to NMC’s values. Here is what they said:

Teamwork: Dr. Zeiller continually communicates his needs with all arenas in the perioperative team. He is consistently on time, which is greatly appreciated.

Excellence: Dr. Zeiller is very methodical and conscientious in the operating room. His patients’ outcomes are excellent.

Safety: Dr. Zeiller takes an active role in the positioning of his patients and is readily available for questions post procedure.

Integrity: Dr. Zeiller always has his orders clear and is very efficient with his paperwork. He has an impeccable rapport with not only the perioperative staff, but with other physicians as well.

Service: Dr. Zeiller brings an active spine practice to NMC and treats everyone with respect. His humor truly lightens up our days in the operating room, and his enthusiasm is contagious.

Humanity: Dr. Zeiller is one of our favorite surgeons who no one has a bad thing to say about. He is warm and giving, and his selection for this award has been late in coming.

Congratulations Dr. Zeiller. You are truly deserving of this award!

Anterior Hip Replacements Are the Future: 5 Points from Dr. Edward Petrow

11 Jul 2011 Doctors, Edward Petrow, Media , , ,

A growing number of joint replacement surgeons are beginning to perform hip replacement surgery using an anterior approach instead of the traditional posterior approach because of the benefits it has for the patient as well as the provider. It can be safely performed on many patients, as long as they have a low risk of fracture and normal anatomy.

Edward Petrow Jr., DO, an orthopedic surgeon at Tucson Orthopaedic Institute, discusses five points on performing anterior hip replacements and what it can mean for the future.

1. Difference in surgical technique. The traditional approach to hip replacement surgery is going through the back, splitting the buttock muscles and peeling back the hip muscles to access the joint. When surgeons employ the anterior approach to hip replacement surgery, they enter the hip through the front part of the joint. “When we take the anterior approach, we don’t detach or remove any muscles,” Dr. Petrow says. “From a recovery standpoint, that means less pain and quicker return to function.”

The anterior approach is a minimally invasive surgery because you can perform the whole procedure through a 10 centimeter or less incision. When surgeons eliminate the muscle disruption, patients don’t have to go on hip precaution, as other hip replacement patients do, and they can return to regular activity quicker.

2. Imaging technology allows for greater precision. In addition to providing a quicker recovery, the anterior approach can also allow surgeons to more precisely place the implant because they can use real-time X-ray guidance perioperatively. “With this equipment, you are watching the procedure on X-ray as you go in so you can see where the implant is going and get it exactly where you want it,” says Dr. Petrow. “This gives you better control of their leg length.”

Experienced surgeons know how to closely reproduce the patient’s leg length, but with the real time X-ray, they can measure both sides to make sure they are the same length. There have been many cases of hip replacement failures due to leg lengthening issues, but with the minimally invasive anterior approach those complications become nearly extinct.

3. Why the procedure isn’t more widespread. While the anterior approach may be less invasive and associated with fewer complications, surgeons without extra training in the technique will not be able to perform in a safe and effective manner. “You have to be committed to doing some extra training to be able to perform it safely,” says Dr. Petrow. “The other issue is that you have to have specialized table to allow you to get to the hip from the front. The hospital has to be committed to getting the table and the surgeon has to commit to the extra training, but it’s a better treatment.”

It’s often hard for surgeons to stay abreast of the most recent treatments and techniques, but it can be worthwhile. The anterior approach may be different, but surgeons can still use the same instrumentation they’ve always used during the surgery. “Just because you’ve done hip replacement surgery the same way over your career doesn’t mean you can’t change,” he says. “Some surgeons won’t and that’s fine, because the posterior approach can still provide a good outcome.”

4. Hospitals benefit from the technique as well. From his perspective, Dr. Petrow says the extra time and financial investment in the anterior approach is worthwhile because he hasn’t experienced any complications, nerve problems or dislocations from patients undergoing anterior hip replacements. It’s also been his experience that these patients are up walking faster, off pain medication sooner and discharged from the hospital sooner.

“We’ve experienced a whole day decrease in the length of stay, from three days to two,” says Dr. Petrow. “All the way around, the short-term recovery has been quicker and there haven’t been any complications.”

5. Anterior hip replacements are the way of the future. As patients find out more about the advantages associated with anterior hip replacements, they will demand that type of procedure and drive it forward, says Dr. Petrow. The technology developed in the past few years has made it an easier and more accessible procedure for surgeons to perform. However, in the future he doesn’t see the procedure becoming much less invasive than it is now, which means further innovation will come from implant design and placement.

“You don’t want to sacrifice good results, and there needs to be a balance between minimally invasive techniques and achieving durable, reproducible results with implants,” he says. “I know the implants I use are durable and I can see patients have a good outcome. It’s the next step forward in what we do as far as hip replacement surgery.”

Written by Laura Dyrda

As published in Becker’s Spine Review, Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Is Your Child’s Backpack Weighing Them Down?

10 Nov 2010 Brian Nielsen, Doctors, Media , , ,

TUCSON – For parents, school always brings up health concerns: how to keep your kids away from germs, how to keep them eating healthy, and how to make sure they get enough sleep.

Something parents may not think about is how to keep their children’s backs safe from harm.

Dr. Brian Nielsen, a local pediatric orthopedist, says your kid’s backpack should not weigh more than 15 percent over the weight of your child. He says too much weight on their shoulders can leave them with irreversible back damage.

“If you have a heavy backpack and you’re leaning back, you can develop a little stress fracture at the lower back and those don’t usually heal,” he said.

New sixth grader Mackenzie Sanders is already feeling the pain.

“It hurts around the shoulders and sometimes I’m kind of hunching over because of the weight,” she said. Her concerned mom does not have any answers.

“I really have no choice. She’s got to have all of her books and supplies,” she said.

However, doctors say there are some things parents can do to help.

Make sure your kids backpacks have wide, padded straps and that they carry it on both shoulders. Fitness level is also a factor that can make a difference.

“The more fit the child is, the better the posture is, the more flexible they are, the less they’re going to have problems,” Dr. Nielsen said.

Another thing to keep in mind is your family history. If your family members have back issues, your child may be more prone to having them as well. See a specialist if their pain persists for more than a couple of weeks or spreads to other parts of their body.

As appeared on KVOA Channel 4 News on November 10, 2010

Related Document: Is Your Backback Safe? 3 Steps to Safe Backback Use

Orthopaedic Surgeon Takes a Look at the ‘Hip Side of Things’

7 Aug 2010 Doctors, Media , , ,

“So what’s new on the hip side of things?” Dr. Edward P. Petrow Jr., asked a room full of people at the Quality Inn Wednesday afternoon. And no, Petrow wasn’t asking about the most à la mode musical beats or in vogue fashion trends. When Petrow, the orthopaedic surgeon and recent Virginia transplant, asked about the “hip side of things” he really was asking about, well, the hips.

Petrow, the sixth Tucson-area guest speaker invited to Nogales by the Mariposa Community Health Center, specializes in joint replacements, specifically knee and hip replacements. Norma Villaseñor, a spokeswoman for Mariposa, said the clinic started holding the biannual luncheons thee years ago as part of the “Mariposa Series.” Some 30 people, both local health professionals and other community members, filed into a room at the Quality Inn around noon, ate lunch and then listened to what Petrow described as “what’s cooking in what we do.”

Villaseñor, who said the list of past speakers included a neurosurgeon and a cancer treatment specialist, said, “We want to invite them to learn about the latest innovations and intermingle and network.”

Major Changes

Petrow said joint replacement surgery has changed noticeably since he finished residency eight years ago. He now works for Tucson Orthopaedic Institute. Petrow said two big changes in hip and knee replacement surgery are the size of surgery incisions and the lifetime of the replacements. Thanks to new computer-assisted surgery techniques, the size of incisions has shrunk noticeably to around 10 centimeters, he said. And because of innovations in plastic, metal and ceramic, implants can now last up to 25 years. They used to max out around 10 years, he said. “Don’t be scared of implants, longevity is a lot better,” Petrow said.

Despite the innovations, he reminded the audience of the dangers that always accompany surgery. For example, with the metal-on-metal implants there is a very slight risk that metal debris could form a pseudo-tumor.

Because of the longer lifespan and soaring levels of obesity, the number of hip and knee replacements per year in America, currently resting around 500,000, continually increases, Petrow said. Since many people live to 100 now, if they have bad knees by age 50, they’ll probably get surgery, instead of spending the second half of their life in pain, Petrow explained.

And, extra weight equates to a disproportionate addition of joint pressure, he said. “Lose 10 pounds and that’s like taking 30 pounds of pressure off the knees with every step,” Petrow said.

Need to Educate

Judge James Soto, who is on the local hospital board, attended the event and invited his friend and former college roommate SCVUSD Superintendent Dan Fontes, because he said he knew he had bad knees. After Petrow finished his Powerpoint presentation, Fontes, who said he’d “heard all of this before” but was “still deciding” whether or not to get surgery, asked him a question.

Fontes wanted to know the risks associated with post-surgery infection, asking specifically about taking preventative medicine before dentist visits. Petrow said he tells his patients to “take antibiotics for forever. Your goal is to never have an infection.”

Soon before the audience members shuffled out and on with their day, Petrow encouraged doctors in the audience to keep their patients up-to-date – or shall we say, hip – on all procedures. “We’re the guys putting scars on people. We need to educate them,” Petrow said.

By Marisa Gerber

As published in Nogales International, Monday, August 16, 2010

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