tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-811331289697961648.post-55671994067044746622008-04-14T21:46:00.000-06:002008-04-14T21:46:00.000-06:00Dr. Tarlow,<BR/><BR/>Very interesting post. I just recently stumbled upon your blog, so let me begin by saying that I am very grateful to read the thoughts of a surgeon who clearly cares very much about providing the best, and sometimes newest treatments for his patients. I am currently an undergrad at the University of Southern California and I am very interested in pursuing a career in surgery, particularly orthopedics. <BR/><BR/>So as for your post, I have a few questions regarding knee replacement surgery. You mentioned in your post that in a traditional replacement, the knee is aligned with its axis perpendicular to a line running from hip to ankle. Is a normal knee not always aligned like this? As far as I understood, this is the driving concept behind the Otis Med system, but it seems to me that most knees ought to be pretty close to this ideal that is used in the traditional replacement. In other words, is “customization” really worth the two or three degrees that a patient’s knee may be off by? As you said, the majority of traditional knee replacements can be expected to last several decades. <BR/><BR/>Additionally, why is it that the Otis Med system looks at the degenerated knee and tries to reconstruct it to pick a replacement? Wouldn't it be easier to look at the healthy knee and assume symmetry? That way, no computer reconstruction would be necessary.<BR/><BR/>Forgive me if my comments seem uninformed or off-base. This is all very interesting to me, so I'm just trying to understand as much as I can.<BR/><BR/>Thanks,<BR/><BR/>JDMJDMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03306769024507024107noreply@blogger.com