Some more thoughts:
(1) Does anyone know if the data presented to Medicare for approval of knee and hip replacements included elderly patients?
(2) I do know that osteoporosis is an issue which might preclude knee and hip replacements--when my gynecologist wrote my first prescription for Fossimax, she read my mind by commenting, "And don't think that when you break your hip, you can just get a replacement--there won't be any bone to attach it to." Similarly, the ortho commented after operating on my mother's broken ankle that there was hardly any bone to attach the pins to. So--if osteoporosis is an issue for these devices, why should Medicare adopt a different standard for ADR????
(3) Why wouldn't osteoporosis be an issue even in fusion, if hardware needs to be attached to bone? (I am posting this question on Spinal Roundtable). And if that's the case, Deyo's whole argument is spurious.
__________________
2001 MVA; C5-C6 disk extruded
ongoing physical therapy, exercise and massage
ESI's, oral prednisone, trigger point injections
foraminal and central stenosis C5/C6 and c6/C7
2007 EMG/nerve conduction shows pattern of chronic radiculopathy
January, 2008: Prestige ST Artificial Disk Replacement, C5/6
|