Week 6

This week contained a mix of clinical shadowing and working on my research project.  I was again able to see some interesting surgeries in the OR including knee replacements and hip revision surgeries.  One interesting thing that happened in the OR this week actually involver the last minute canceling of a surgery.  For the past several week the Dr. Bostrom and his team have been preparing for a unique surgery requiring 3D printed models of the patients unique anatomy and the potential for vascular complications requiring a specialist from Weill Cornell to be involved in both the planning and surgery.  Ultimately, the surgery had to be canceled at the absolute last minute (as the patient was being brought into the OR) due to the discovery of a potential skin infection which developed near the site of the wound.  Due to the fact that one of the major and most complicated surgical risks involves infection this required a last minute cancelation.  It was interesting to see how much planning and work went into planning this surgery, not to mention that the potential huge benefit for the patient, had to be canceled and rescheduled at the last minute.  I suppose that this is the sort of thing that has to happen every now and then to maximize the safety and success of surgery but it was still interesting to see all of this happen in real time.  I was also able to see some more interesting cases in the clinic including another instance of a follow-up of a patient who I had seen operated on earlier in the semester.  I find it fascinating to see how someone who I recently saw having pieces of the bone in their knee removed and replaced with metal be up and walking around, albeit painfully.

I also spent time this week working on my research project.  This week it involved learning about a lot of different animal models of post-traumatic osteoarthritis and examining the literature on subchondral bone changes within these models.  It has been great for me to really dig into this literature and develop a more complete understanding of how the disease that I am seeing everyday in the clinic and OR develops.