Covenant Health today (July 11) is announcing MAKOplasty®, a technology taking partial knee resurfacing and total hip replacement surgery to a new level of precision. The innovative process helps repair patients’ knees in a less invasive way, preserving more of the patient’s natural knee while speeding up recovery. For the hip, it enables more accurate alignment and positioning of implants. Covenant Health is the first and only provider to offer such technology in the West Texas region.
“We believe it is our responsibility to provide our patients with the latest, most advanced technology and techniques available,” said Walt Cathey, CEO, Covenant Medical Center. “Health care continues to deliver better technology, providing patients with better experience, better outcomes and more value. The release of MAKOplasty is an example of such technology.”
Dr. David Shephard of Lubbock Sports Medicine, and the only orthopedic surgeon currently performing MAKOplasty in Lubbock, said that compared to a total knee replacement, the new procedure is less invasive. He said MAKO partial knee replacement is for the patient with knee arthritis that only involves one area of the knee.
“It allows me to replace only the diseased portion of the knee while the rest of the natural knee is preserved,” Shephard said. “The bonus is that recovery time can be shorter, pain may be less, and more natural function recovered. Also, because it is based on CT scan and includes use of the robotic arm, it is extremely accurate.”
Shephard also said accurate alignment and positioning of implants using traditional manual total hip replacement techniques can be challenging.
“Getting implants positioned correctly is an important aspect in improving surgical outcomes and the lifespan of the implants used for hip replacement,” Shephard said. “This technology enables us to more accurately achieve the biomechanical alignments to fit the patient’s unique anatomy.”
The new procedures are performed using the RIO® system (Robotic arm Interactive Orthopedic system). For knees, this enables the surgeon to complete a patient specific pre-surgical plan that details the technique for bone preparation and customized implant positioning using a CT scan of the patient’s own knee. For hips, the system provides a patient-specific 3-D image of the patient’s hip based on a pre-operative CT scan. Using the 3-D model, the surgeon can then plan the optimal size and position of hip implant components.
For appointments, please call Covenant Health, at (806) 725-0514.
About Covenant Health:
Covenant Health has served for almost 100 years as the only faith-based integrated health network in the West Texas, eastern New Mexico region providing a Christian healing ministry. Covenant’s network includes six hospitals, more than 1,000 licensed beds, more than 5,000 employees, 97 primary care providers, a medical staff of more than 600 physicians at its cornerstone facilities, and a regionally based health plan – FirstCare — offering high-quality affordable healthcare coverage. To learn more about Covenant Health, please visit covenanthealth.org.
(News release from Covenant Health)
