Procedure Helps Patients Avoid Hip Replacements, Repair Joint Damage

Barb Consiglio: When Ben Wallace noticed some pain in his leg, he thought he was just having trouble recovering from a basketball injury, but X-rays showed it was much more than that.

[Text on screen: 
Ben Wallace
Had hip surgery]

Ben Wallace: It was an emotional kind of train wreck for me to be 30 years old and not know if I'm ever going to be able to play sports again or be able to do normal household activities without any pain.

Barb Consiglio: One solution was a hip replacement, but because Ben is so young, that could mean even more difficult surgeries down the line.

[Text on screen: 
Dr. Kelton Vasileff
Ohio State Wexner Medical Center]

Kelton Vasileff, MD: Once you go through a hip replacement surgery, you can't really go back at that point in time, and there is potentially a finite lifespan to some of these implants.

Barb Consiglio: So Dr. Kelton Vasileff performed surgery at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center to preserve Ben's native hip, something that wouldn't be possible without a procedure called subchondroplasty, where a bone-hardening substance is injected into the joint, filling any voids or lesions. It's a procedure that's mostly been used in knee surgery, but Dr. Vasileff has found it's giving his hip patients new options.

Dr. Vasileff: For younger patients, this is something that's allowed us to expand our indications for hip preservation surgery and allow them to prevent or delay the need for hip replacement surgery.

Barb Consiglio: The cement-like material is usually used along with other procedures to reverse damage and not only are patients more likely to keep their own hip, but they also avoid the long painful recovery of replacement surgery. Just four weeks after surgery, Ben is getting around fine and plans to be back on the basketball court in a few months.

Dr. Vasileff: And then over time, his bone will regenerate and grow and replace that cement material with normal bone.

Ben Wallace: I'm incredibly grateful for the team at Ohio State with giving me the opportunity to get back to doing what I like to do and enjoy being a 30-year-old again.

Barb Consiglio: At The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, this is Barb Consiglio reporting.