Женщина в Балтиморе стала первой в США, получившей замену сустава большого пальца

'My pain level was excruciating': Woman gets first thumb joint replacement in Baltimore Advertisement 'My pain level was excruciating': Woman gets first thumb joint replacement in Baltimore BALTIMORE — A woman experiencing hand pain found relief after becoming the first person in Baltimore to have her thumb joint replaced. Being able to use one's hands without pain is incredibly important — but suffering through the pain was no longer an option for Paulette Levy. Advertisement Pain worsened over years "My pain level was excruciating," Levy told WBAL-TV 11 News. Levy said the pain in her left hand gradually worsened over the years, so bad that she could no longer use her left hand after she got her last cortisone shot. "Over the last few years, I would rub my hand because it was always uncomfortable. It would hurt. I just said, 'It's the arthritis, it's the arthritis,'" Levy told WBAL-TV 11 News. Patients have been getting knee and hip replacements for decades. Wanting her independence, Levy asked the doctor what could be done. What are the options? She was presented with two options: Remove a bone or replace cartilage with a tendon. But she presented a third option. "I was online, and I said, 'Well, what about this thumb replacement?'" Levy recalled saying to her doctor. "He said, 'Well, we don't do that here, but we will be doing it shortly.' I said, 'Well, sign me up because that's what I want. Give me a shot now and I will be your guinea pig.'" Levy underwent outpatient surgery on June 24, and six days later, she was pain-free. Her recovery included home exercises. Now, less than three months later, she said it feels wonderful. "My grip strength is getting better every day," Levy told WBAL-TV 11 News. "I'm able to lift more weight every day. I'm able to perform activities of daily living independently." When to consider thumb joint replacement Dr. Aviram Giladi, a hand and upper extremity surgeon at The Curtis National Hand Center at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital, performed the surgery and was the first to do so in Baltimore. "I think when symptoms are there, and the solution is there, and we can work together as a team, I think she was the perfect candidate to do it," Giladi told WBAL-TV 11 News. "It is a take on a good solution to a bad problem. So, hip prostheses came around and they've changed a lot of work on the hip, and then a company took that and applied it to the hand." Giladi said everyone gets arthritis in the thumb joint, but interventions are determined by how uncomfortable a patient feels. "(We) get them back to using the hand so much more quickly than we were before." "The joint will wear down over time and we try to keep people comfortable. We do therapy, we do injections, we do all these different things. But for some people — whether it's wear and tear of life, the way they use it, inflammation issues, all sorts of things like that — it just puts them in a place where comfort can't be found," Giladi told WBAL-TV 11 News. Giladi said surgery is the solution when comfort can't be found. "One of the nicest things about this is being able to help people and get them back to using the hand so much more quickly than we were before," Giladi told WBAL-TV 11 News. "Implants are always different than other surgeries, and so we take that risk really seriously. That's why we've waited to launch in the United States; we've waited to roll it out. But the early results have been incredibly encouraging." Giladi said recovery is much faster with joint replacement, and patients are happier with the outcome and have near-full strength restored.