Total Shoulder Arthroplasty - Dr. Peter Millett

Video Description

Dr. Peter J Millett is a an orthopedic shoulder specialist and surgeon who is expert in treating osteoarthritis of the shoulder. Osteoarthritis is the most frequent cause of disability in the United States. A recent report claims that 50 million adults suffer from this disease.

Osteoarthritis manifests as a gradual and progressive degeneration of various joints. The prevalence of Osteoarthritis increases with age, typically worsening after age 60; women are more susceptible than men. Though less prevalent than Osteoarthritis of the knee and the hip, osteoarthritis of the shoulder can be just as debilitating.

Glenohumeral osteoarthrosis (shoulder) is classically characterized by pain, weakness, restricted motion, cartilage loss (which covers the joint surface of the upper arm bone and shoulder cavity), and can be associated with bony deformities called osteophytes.

Treatment of shoulder osteoarthritis should be based on the patient's age, severity of symptoms, level of activity, radiographic findings and other medical conditions present. The non-operative treatment options currently include modification of activities, physical therapy, pharmacotherapy and injections with corticosteroids and/or visco-supplementation. Nonoperative treatment does not eliminate the actual pain cause but helps decreasing the symptoms. If this type of treatment fails, surgical treatment is a possible next step.

The most definite treatment modality is a total joint arthroplasty (replacement of the joint with a prosthesis) with satisfactory reports on pain reduction and functional outcome. This treatment method works well in, in general, older patients. Due to various reasons, such as the lifetime of the prosthesis, young, highly active patients are often poor candidates for shoulder arthroplasty.

The ideal surgical treatment for young active patients with symptomatic glenohumeral osteoarthritis is controversial. Dr. Millett has developed an aggressive arthroscopic (surgery through key holes) approach called Comprehensive Arthroscopic Management (CAM) for patients with advanced osteoarthritis as an alternative to arthroplasty.

The surgical technique of the CAM-procedure is further explained in the following video:

Technique of Comprehensive Arthroscopic Management procedure (link to video 'CAM')

To learn more about Dr. Millett, please visit his other social network sites at the following links:

http://drmillett.com