The first step is you. You have to say that you can.
– W. Smith –
The best treatment and the surgeon’s number
Ankle osteoarthritis is a disabling pathology that often affects young people at the height of their social and work life.
It is a disabling pathology with an important impact on the quality of life.
It is proven that the possibility of having a reference team increases the possibility of receiving avant-garde treatments, which are safe and effective.
Having a surgeon who devotes himself to this pathology is important for receiving treatments that preserve movement, which resolves painful symptoms (ankle prosthesis and joint preserving surgery).
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The dedicated team and fast-track
However, it is equally important to rely on an entire dedicated team.
Today, my team executes about 150 cases of ankle prostheses each year with specific treatment and rehabilitation protocols, in which physiotherapists and rehabilitation therapists with unique characteristics are involved.
Our rehabilitation team leaders have 3 unique characteristics.
- They are rehabilitators with a personal history of ankle arthritis;
- They have been operated on and have an ankle prosthesis;
- They were operated on and treated by my team.
This was said to be the added value for a satisfactory result.
It is a key feature of our Fast-Track protocol because a successful surgery begins with patient information before the operating room and finishes at the end of the patient’s rehabilitation.
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Who is the ideal candidate for a visit?
Ankle arthritis is not a common condition such as hip or knee osteoarthritis. This is why we believe that addressing a center and a reference team is essential.
The ideal candidate for a visit to my center is a patient who thinks he needs a second opinion and, therefore, has already undergone a specialized orthopedic examination and has received surgical advice in that center (arthroscopic cleaning, prosthesis or arthrodesis).
It is, therefore, important to attach information at the time of booking the visit, including the reports of previous orthopedic visits performed over the years and the reports of the imaging investigations that the patient must have at the time of my visit:
- x-ray of feet and ankles in bilateral loading;
- CAT scan of the ankles and the back of the foot of the only pathological side.
It is important to have already performed a specialist orthopedic visit locally before using us as a reference center. For this reason, we ask to have this certificate attached.
On the other hand, when it is not possible to perform the appropriate imaging investigations required, it is possible to do them before our visit, using our International Medical Concierge service, which will organize the prescription and execution immediately before our meeting.
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How to book a visit?
It is possible to book by e-mail by filling in the appropriate form.
The form is structured to ask you for general and clinical information, so that it is possible for our concierge to optimize the experience of the visit and the experience of staying in Milan for you and your companions.
The form is a tool that allows me to have the necessary clinical information in anticipation of our meeting.
You will be asked to attach:
- general information of your general practitioner;
- report of the previous orthopedic visit;
- imaging reports necessary for the visit (x-ray of feet and ankles in bilateral loading + CAT scan of ankle and back of the foot). If you have not already performed any of these exams, our concierge will take care of organizing them.
In addition, you will be asked for preferred reservation times (preferred month and day of the week) to help our concierge approach and please your needs.
Finally, general information will be requested (optional response). It is possible to foresee and organize:
- transfer to and from the airport;
- restaurant and hotel reservations;
- booking tours and museums for the patient’s accompanying persons;
- booking and visiting the showrooms of Italian brands.
Your visit with me
The visit will be performed at my studio in Milan, Via Regina Margherita.
We will have a 30-minute appointment in which I will give my diagnosis and my therapeutic advice, but also in which we will discuss your doubts and I will answer your questions.
In case you decide to continue the planning through the concierge, it will be possible to arrange a subsequent meeting with one of our rehabilitators.
It is an experience that I recommend planning, because the team leaders of our rehabilitation are all former patients of ours, who currently have ankle prostheses.
In case you have foreseen this additional meeting, it will be possible to review the situation with me again at the end of this second meeting in order to clarify further doubts and answer further questions.
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The recovery and the surgery
The surgery can be scheduled both at the Columbus Clinic Center and at Humanitas San Pio X, which are both in Milan.
Entry into the clinic is anticipated the day before the surgery.
The surgery will be performed the next morning.
A prosthesis surgery normally has an average duration of less than 90 minutes.
The patient is usually put on his feet and re-educated on walking (putting weight on the operated limb) in the same afternoon of the operation, according to the guidelines of our fast-track protocol.
There will be the occasion for the second meeting with one of our rehabilitation team leaders.
I think this is really useful because our team leader was a patient just like you and has an ankle prosthesis like you as well.
He is the best professional to be guided and encouraged by in order to learn how to walk properly.
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The dismissal
The hospital discharge usually occurs the following day or two days after the operation, based on clinical parameters that are normally established during the visit and before the operation.
At the time of discharge, the patient is able to travel by car, train or plane, and my concierge is available to organize any transfers to and from airports and stations.
I advise, however, to refrain from long trips for the first 15 days.
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Checkups and rehabilitation
The required checkups are 3 in one year:
- 20 days with an orthopedist from my team;
- 3 months first checkup with me;
- 6 months third checkup with me.
During the entire journey, you will be followed by an orthopedist of my team (telecommunication every 15 days) and the rehabilitator, available to interface with your local physiotherapist weekly.
If the patient has the opportunity to predict that the first 45 days of his course will be entirely in Italy, we offer the possibility of an intense and dedicated rehabilitation path, with the possibility of enriching it with the organization of touristic visits in Milan and Italy for the patient and possible companions.