May 2004

Ask Dr. Marks: 05/04

Subscribers Only I have had four hip replacements, and my hip still dislocates about every four to five months. What could be causing these failures? I really don’t want to go through more surgery. Are there any alternatives? The prevalence of total hip dislocation in the first year after surgery is between 1.9 and 4 percent. Although the greatest risk of dislocation occurs in the first year, the patient remains at risk for the life of the implant.…

Goodbye Gout

Subscribers Only Imagine waking up in the middle of the night with your big toe throbbing fiercely—as if someone had poked it with a hot iron. Chances are you have gout. “Acute gout attacks are unmistakable,” says Dr. Brian Mandell, education program director of rheumatology and immunologic disease at The Cleveland Clinic. “They are excruciating episodes usually involving a joint in the lower extremities and are characterized by redness, swelling, extreme pain, and skin sensitivity.” …

Getting The Most Out Of Back Surgery

Subscribers Only Successful back surgery is not automatic. The failure rate is high enough to warrant a special name: failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS). FBSS occurs at least 5 percent of the time and perhaps more often, depending on the procedure performed and who’s keeping score. But there are plenty of steps you can take to put yourself in the group of patients most likely to have a successful operation. …

Fellow Travelers: Depression And Arthritis

Subscribers Only More than a century ago, the American philosopher William James described depression as “a muling, puling, mumbling mood…an attitude of unhappiness that fastens and perpetuates the trouble which occasioned it.” For countless arthritis patients, the trouble that “occasions” their depression is the constant, seemingly unendurable joint and muscle pain characteristic of the disorder. …

In The News: 05/04

Subscribers Only Sound Fishy? Cod-Liver Oil Can Delay Cartilage Damage Maybe your mother knew something, after all. Cod-liver oil—that nasty stuff she made you take as a child—has been shown to slow the destruction of joint cartilage in osteoarthritis patients, potentially reducing the need for joint-replacement surgery later in life. A study conducted at Cardiff University in Wales, U.K., shows that tissues from 86 percent of 25 patients awaiting joint replacement who took 2,000mg of cod-liver oil daily…

Non-Surgery Options For Knee OA

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