Patient Testimonials

Testimonials provided by patients who received the HemiCAP^® device and agreed to share their experience with you.

HemiCAP^® Femoral Knee Resurfacing

I’ve always been a very active man. At over 40 years of age, I was still playing and officiating soccer games. Playing soccer has always been a very important part of my life and I did it for fun, to relax, to see old friends and I even officiated games to make extra money. I also worked a construction job that was even more physically demanding than playing the game I love. In addition, I had a second job on the weekends cementing driveways which required me to be on my knees for hours on end. My whole life, my leisure time and my work life all demanded that I be in very good physical shape and I always was.

About 5 years ago my active life was interrupted. Slowly my ability to work and play soccer was starting to deteriorate. I would come home in pain every day and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I finally decided to see a doctor because I couldn’t go on living in the constant pain I was in. I had been out of work for a great deal of time and it seemed like there was nothing out there that would help me. Just when I thought there was no other choice, I saw my doctor once again and he told about the new technology from Arthrosurface®. The HemiCAP surgery meant I didn’t need a total joint replacement. The thought of a total joint replacement seemed crazy with me being barely over 40 years old. I told my surgeon that I wanted to have the HemiCAP surgery instead.

It is now 5 years post HemiCAP surgery and I am still feeling great. My knee doesn’t give me any trouble and I’m leading the same active life that I did pre-injury. I got my life back, and I got it back quickly, I don’t think that any other treatment would have given me such great results.

M.L.

UniCAP™ Partial Knee Resurfacing
"Fifteen years ago while playing football at school I injured my right knee and tore my ligament. A few years later while water skiing I did the same thing to my left knee. Of course, I knew that if I wanted to keep doing sports my ligaments needed to be fixed so I had both repaired. Physical activity is part of my life. Not only do I ski, play football and do sports like ultimate frisbee but I have a very physical job where I have to move equipment around an area the size of three football fields. I was always able to manage my pain but then a few years ago my knees started to become painful when I did activities for extended periods of time. As a matter of fact the pain got so bad that after a fantastic ski week in Tahoe I could barely walk. Even though it was tough I always managed.

Then last year things changed. While skiing with my daughter I fell and could hear a pop in both my knees. I thought, “that’s it I’ve torn my ligaments again and now I’m going to need a joint replacement.” The thought of a total knee scared the heck out of me. You would think I would be OK with it since I work at a hospital where they perform these operations everyday but it just seemed to be such a big operation. Nonetheless, I had my knees checked out and sure enough the damage to my cartilage was so significant that just fixing the ligaments wasn’t going to help much.

Thankfully, one of the doctors at our hospital has been working on minimally invasive surface replacements in the knee, so when the new system became available I decided to check it out. The basic idea was to just fill the damaged areas with new surfaces that matched my own anatomy so I could buy some time. I went ahead with the operation and not only was it better than I could have imagined but I was back at work, virtually pain free and with great range of motion in my knee after only 12 days!! For me, the defining moment came while I was cutting my lawn. I was mowing the grass when all of a sudden I realized that for the first time that I could remember I didn’t have any pain in my knee!!

It’s a weird feeling to realize that you are better because you don’t feel something but for me it just felt great. The whole reason I decided to try this new knee system from Arthrosurface was because I wanted to preserve what I have for as long as I can keep it. Because I now have no pain and normal motion it just feels like I got another chance."

-R.F., Ohio

Shoulder
A few years after a bout with Leukemia, I developed avascular necrosis in both shoulders. They caught it early enough that arthroscopic surgery seemed to solve the problem, but five years later, I felt a familiar pain in my right shoulder. The doctor confirmed that a piece of my shoulder was basically dead, but he only offered the same arthroscopic surgery again or a full shoulder replacement. I was particularly disappointed because I had just learned to kiteboard, which is similar to wakeboarding except that you’re being pulled by a large kite. Needless to say, shoulders are required.

I was lucky to run into my previous surgeon, who was retired, but he referred me to Dr. Joseph Fernandez. Dr. Fernandez realized that the arthroscopy wouldn’t work this time, and that my condition wasn’t bad enough to warrant a replacement. After researching different options, he chose partial resurfacing as the best treatment for me.

The surgery was in 2004 and one year later, I completed an Olympic Distance Triathlon. Shortly after that, I got back into kiteboarding, wakeboarding, surfing and recently scuba diving. My shoulder still feels great.

Here's my picture with my HemiCAP Shoulder!

-D.D., Miami, FL

Shoulder
About twenty years ago I had a nasty fall while skiing in New Hampshire and thought that I had broken my right shoulder. After a few days, the pain subsided and I continued to ski in the winter and play golf in the summer. Over the years, however, the pain in my right shoulder continued to grow to such a degree that it started to limit not only my passion for playing golf, but also my hobby of working in the garden. It finally got to the point where I started to hear and use the terms “frozen shoulder”. As an accountant and as a daily user of computers, I started experiencing sharp pains that would “freeze” the use of my arm.
After a couple of cortisone shots, which had no effect whatsoever on the relief of pain, and a subsequent surgical procedure to “clean” off the spurs in my shoulder, I had, what was called “shoulder replacement surgery” during which time, the HemiCAP shoulder implant was inserted.
I am glad to report that after three and one half months of physical therapy, I played nine holes of golf to “test” the surgically repaired shoulder. To my immense satisfaction, I had absolutely no pain in the shoulder. I decided then to start “pushing” the shoulder in the garden by lifting and moving some rocks and build a wall. Again I felt no pain. I have played a few more rounds of 18 holes golf since the surgery, and I can honestly say that I feel no pain and I feel extremely satisfied with the surgical procedure.

-A.D., Nashua, NH

Shoulder
"Being a former Senior Powerlifting Champion and owner of a prestigious power-lifting gym it is crucial to my work and life to be able to use my shoulder. Over the years I have spent a lot of time dealing with different injuries but this was the worst. For the last 11 years I have had to live everyday with pain in my shoulder and in the last few years it got so bad that I couldn't sleep more than a few hours at a time without being awakened by the pain. In fact many times when I would drive my truck, I would have to use my left arm to change the gears or even the radio station because it hurt so much to use my shoulder.

I went to see several of the top shoulder surgeons and they all told me the same thing "you need a total shoulder replacement" For me, that meant that I wouldn't be able to lift again and that just wasn't an option. Finally someone referred me to Dr. Miniaci at the Cleveland Clinic. He had worked with Arthrosurface^® on this new device called the HemiCAP^® implant that would just resurface one side of my joint. Using the HemiCAP^® implant on one side and an allograft on my other side he was able to reconstruct my shoulder without compromising any of the muscles and tendons. Not only did the pain go away in a matter of weeks but for the first time in over 10 years my shoulder works like normal. Given my history that's nothing short of fantastic!! My pain is gone, I sleep through the night and I am back to full time lifting and working out. Without my surgeon and this new technology from Arthrosurface^® I would have had to stop doing what I love the most- lifting and training athletes to get powerful and strong."

-L.S., Ohio

Patello-Femoral
"Four years ago, I had an accident at work. A large 20lb rock fell right on my kneecap and since then my life has been miserable. My first surgery was right after my accident. The surgeon took out some damaged tissue and cleaned up the inside of my joint. It helped a bit but then the pain got worse. I went from playing softball, working 80 hours a week and being very active, to being so debilitated that I couldn't walk up and down stairs without a lot of pain. Finally, I went to see another doctor and he performed a different surgery. This time they realigned my knee and put some tissue grafts into the injured area on my kneecap. Unfortunately, that didn't work either. At this point I had been out of work for two years. I was starting to lose hope of ever going back to work since nothing had worked, the pain was constant, and the only other option was getting a joint replacement.

Just when I thought there was no other choice my doctor called me to tell me about a new technology from Arthrosurface^®. He had already used it in the knee and shoulder with great results. Now they had something for kneecap so I went to find out what it was. I was surprised at how simple it was. The idea was to replace the damaged area with a contoured implant. What made the implants special was that they were designed to fit the anatomy of the patient.

It's now been about 6 weeks after surgery and for the first time in 4 years I have no more pain. Walking, biking, going up and down stairs are all things that I can do again, now without pain. I went from taking pain meds everyday to taking none. Now, I even sleep through the night. At the end of this month I go back to work starting with a desk job. If things keeping going well after I finish my rehab program then I may even go back to my old job. That would be fantastic.

If my doctor had told me that 2 months after my surgery I would be pain-free and working again I would have said it was impossible. Today it's a reality. The Arthrosurface^® technology has given me back my life. I couldn't be happier."

-D.C., Boston, MA

Femoral Condyle**
One day in the spring of 2004, I was playing tennis which I do several times a week. During the game my knee started to hurt. It was a little bit strange because I didn’t fall or remember doing anything traumatic, it just started to hurt. After the game it got worse and that night my knee swelled up. When I went to see my surgeon he decided it was more than just a minor injury so he scheduled me for an arthroscopic surgery so they could look inside my knee to see what was wrong. That’s when he found that I had damage to my articular cartilage and that I would need surgery to correct the problem.

At first, my surgeon suggested I get a microfracture. My surgeon told me that with microfracture the rehab was going to be fairly long. This was an issue for me as I am very active and wanted to continue to play tennis. After discussing several options my surgeon suggested I might be a good candidate for the HemiCAP^® implant from Arthrosurface^®. The implant is custom fit to cover the damaged area and since it is metal I could put my weight on it much earlier. Being able to move around early was very appealing to me so I decided to have surgery the next month. After surgery I went home to start my rehabilitation. I still had pain at first but each day it got better and by the end of the first week the worst pain was gone. Even though the whole rehab program took only about 8 weeks, by 6 weeks almost all my pain was gone.

Of course, I started to play tennis as soon as my doctor said it was O.K. which was about 8 weeks after surgery. Recently I went on a one week bike tour in Germany. This was the first time that I was going to exercise my knee everyday for several hours so I was a little concerned. It was great! No pain, my legs felt strong and the best thing was that no one could tell I even had surgery only a year before. When I first had the pain in my knee I was very concerned. I thought I might not be able to exercise and be as active as I liked. With the HemiCAP^® implant I have everything I wished for. The rehab was short, it didn’t really affect my work, I can play tennis, hike and ride my bike, all with no pain. The HemiCAP^® implant sounded like a good idea when I first heard of it but now I know it is. I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.

P.R., Germany

Foot/Ankle
“For the last two years the pain in my foot got progressively worse, so much so, that I started to change the way I walked just so I could avoid walking on my toe. When I started walking on the outside of my foot I ended up getting neck and back pain as well, which just made matters worse. I’m a carpenter and so I spend a lot of time going up ladders, bending, kneeling and reaching into difficult places. The pain got so bad I could no longer do my job and that’s when I decided to go see a specialist. When I first saw my surgeon he told me that my only option to get rid of the pain was a fusion. Even though it sounded pretty drastic, I decided to have the surgery. Being a carpenter I am very familiar with the concept of fusing things together and so I knew that I would end up loosing most of the movement in my toe. Not a great option, but at that point there was nothing else that would take care of my pain.

As fate would have it, the day before my surgery, my surgeon advised me that there might be another option. He told me about this new product called the HemiCAP^® which was an implant that would replace the arthritic part of my joint and give me a new surface. I could avoid getting a fusion, keep the movement of my toe and if it worked as planned I would get pain relief. Even though it was new for the toe, the HemiCAP^® implant had already been used successfully in several hundred patients in the hip, shoulder and knee. Deciding to try it wasn’t a difficult decision, especially given my other choice, fusion. Well it’s now been a few months and I couldn’t be happier. I can bend, jump, walk up ladders and after 6 weeks I was walking 3 miles a day, 5 days a week!! Two weeks after surgery my swelling was down, my pain was virtually gone and I had the movement back in my toe. The strangest thing was that I had to learn how to walk on my toe again. Seven weeks after surgery I was working doing all those things I hadn’t been able to do for years and the best part was that I didn’t have any more pain in my neck or back either. When I decided to have surgery I never expected that it would turn out this good. The fact that I have no more pain and still have my movement is just fantastic.”

-J.R., Pennsylvania

"I went to several orthopaedic surgeons and they all told me the same thing "you need to stop doing all the activities you are now doing." I tried medications and injections and it seemed my only option was a total hip. No one wanted to do that because of my age and even with that, I was told my activities would have to change. I thought, I'm too young to stop doing all the things that I enjoy, there must be something else for people like me who have limited damage to their hips. I was fortunate to be introduced to Dr. Philippon and when he told me about the Arthrosurface HemiCAP^® device I knew it was for me. Today I'm on my feet all day, I teach Tae-kwon-do and kick boxing and I have even returned to working on the ski patrol. I do all of this without any pain and it feels wonderful to have my life back."

-G.D. Pennsylvania

Shoulder
"As I was attempting to break the fall of a fainting co-worker who fell on me, I severely injured my right shoulder. Having previous injuries to this shoulder, I knew that I would have to have surgery, to what extent was unknown….. As an operating room nurse for many years I am familiar with the various options that are available today and I knew that I would most likely need a total shoulder replacement. Not quite 50 years of age, I considered myself too young for that procedure, especially as it might mean that I wouldn't work as an operating room nurse again. Fortunately, my surgeon Dr. Philip Davidson had learned about this new device for resurfacing damaged cartilage made by Arthrosurface^® and so we decided to try it. It was very important to me to maintain my normal anatomy in my shoulder. Dr. Davidson thought he would be able to reconstruct the muscles and tendons more anatomically if the resurfacing implant left the rest of the joint mechanics intact. Well it worked! Even though the surgery went great, since most of the soft tissues in my shoulder had been reconstructed, I had to undergo an intensive rehabilitation program. As difficult as it was, it was absolutely worth it! My shoulder feels the best it has in years and my strength is back. I can now move it normally again and the pain is almost completely gone. As a nurse in the OR, you are exposed to new technology everyday, some better than others. The minute Dr. Davidson explained the HemiCAP^® system to me, it made sense. It was a simple technique that leaves the good cartilage in place, but more important for me, it's anatomical. I had seen doctors previously and they told me I would need a total joint replacement. This was not a viable option, not only because of my age, but more importantly because it would change the anatomy of my shoulder. A total joint replacement can restrict the movement of your shoulder and in my case, it would probably not allow me to do the physically demanding job that I do. In the end, Dr. Davidson did a fantastic job restoring my shoulder and the HemiCAP^® system allowed him to do that anatomically. My pain is virtually gone and my function is back. As difficult as it was to go through the rehab, I am thrilled because I still have all my options open and I can return to what I love best, helping people."

-K.G., Florida

Hip
"After two operations had failed to relieve years of chronic hip pain, I faced a life of limitations at the ripe old age of 34. Miraculously, my surgeon was able to restore my hip to full health with the Arthrosurface^® HemiCAP^® implant. In a very short time, I was able to get off my scooter and return to a normal, pain free lifestyle. Today, I enjoy a full range of activities without limitations. I do not even notice the hip which used to interfere in everything I did. Now, all I notice is the difference my surgeon and the HemiCAP^® implant made in my life."

-K.A., Florida

Many patients treated with the HemiCAP^® device experience relief from pain and symptoms, however individual patient results will vary. Consult your physician to see whether this treatment is right for you.

**The Femoral Condyle system is available in most international markets via CE mark and in the US it is currently being evaluated as part of a IDE clinical study at a number of sites in the US.**