Up to 9 million Poles may suffer from osteoarthritis, experts estimate. This is one of the most common causes of disability. However, access to surgical treatment is a problem – long queues for procedures.
On Saturday in Katowice, specialists from all over the country discussed the optimal methods of treatment in the case of significant deformation and destruction of the knee joint, which dramatically impairs the patient’s mobility.
The symposium devoted to knee arthroplasty was organized by the Department and Clinic of Orthopedics and Traumatology of the Movement Organ of the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice under the auspices of the Polish Society of Orthopedics and Traumatology.
“The problem is downright colossal. The World Health Organization announced the previous decade as the decade of bones and joints, recognizing that osteoarthritis is an epidemic of the 8st century. It is estimated that in Poland it affects 9 to XNUMX million people. These are not small numbers anymore, it is becoming a common disease “- said the president of the Polish Orthopedic and Traumatological Society, head of the Katowice orthopedics clinic, prof. Damian Kusz.
The most effective method of treatment in the case of advanced disease and serious damage to the knee joint is arthroplasty – such an operation eliminates pain, restores fitness and the ability to move.
As explained by prof. Kush, during such a procedure, the damaged articular surfaces are removed from the patient and the so-called artificial joints. Their base is titanium, covered with various substances, including hydroxyapatite, called artificial bone. After some time, the artificial bone fuses with the recipient’s bone, creating a very strong connection. The durability of modern dentures is up to 20 years.
The doctors participating in the symposium emphasized that the problem of Polish patients is a very long waiting time for treatments, several years on average. The reason is too low limits specified in the contracts of institutions with the National Health Fund.
“At the orthopedic clinic in Katowice-Ochojec, we are currently setting a deadline for patients for 2026; this is 13 years old. Please think about the suffering of these people, their progressive disability. I wonder if someone in Poland will finally count the costs of 13 years of waiting, i.e. paying sickness benefits, paying disability benefits, rehabilitation benefits, pharmacological treatment and the consequences of such long pharmacological treatment as damage to the gastrointestinal tract, liver or kidneys. Isn’t it better to periodically increase the expenditure on these operations to push this bottleneck to the queue? ” – postulated by prof. Kush.
“The processing capacity is, in our clinic we would be able to put on two or even three times as many prostheses, but for some reason there are always more important matters than orthopedics, and we are in danger of soon becoming a disabled society. My greatest professional dream is to ask the patient if he wants to be operated on in a month, in two, or maybe tomorrow ”- he added.
The reasons for the increasing incidence of osteoarthritis include, inter alia, obesity, putting them under greater strain. Others are too rarely undertaken physical activity, injuries, but also aging of the society – people aged 80-90 are more and more often patients of surgeons and orthopedists. (PAP)
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