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Department of Orthopedic Surgery
Contents of medical treatment
Orthopedic Surgery is a medical department that treats the motor and sensory systems in the arms, legs, and trunk. More specifically, our treatment is focused on spine and spinal cord disease, deformity of spine, joint disorder, bone/soft tissue tumor, hand disorder, bone fracture and dislocation, chronic rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, and the like. We also positively handle severe spine and spinal cord injury, bone fracture, and external injury, whose treatment frequency continues to increase, cooperating with the emergency medical center. In terms of research and education, we make an effort to study and develop minimally invasive surgery and try to nurture orthopedic surgeons with a high technique that originates from theory.
Characteristics of medical practice and skilled treatment
In order to handle various motor system disorders, our specialized staff is set for each field (spine and spinal cord surgery, sport and joint surgery, bone/soft tissue tumor surgery, hand surgery, and pediatric orthopedic surgery) in our department. Especially, regarding spinal endoscopic operations, Professor Muneto Yoshida has top class operating results in Japan (more than 2700 cases between 1999 and 2009) and many patients visit our department for treatment from outside Wakayama prefecture.
Fields of specialty
Spine and spinal cord disease, scoliosis, bone and joint injury, joint disorder, pediatric orthopedic surgery, bone/soft tissue tumor, paralysis and reconstruction, rheumatism, osteoporosis, and sport orthopedic surgery.
Major specialized outpatient services
In our spine and spinal cord disease specialized outpatient service, 10 spine and spinal cord surgery medical instructors certified by the Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research examine and treat patients. The number of surgeries in spine and spinal cord diseases performed by them is about 350 cases/year (2015), and our department is certified as a facility for a clinical fellow and advanced course by the Japanese Society for Spine Surgery and Related Research.
Major symptoms and diseases that we focus on are as follows.
Major symptoms:
Low back pain, neck pain, stiff shoulder, upper limb pain, leg pain, numbness in hands and feet, impaired limb movement, paralysis, impaired walking, and impaired sport activity
Major diseases:
Lumbar disk herniation, spondylolysis, spondylolisthesis, lumbar spinal canal stenosis, osteoporosis, spinal neoplasm, spinal cord tumor, spinal and spinal cord injury, cervical spondylosis, cervical myelopathy, ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament in the cervical spine, and deformity of spine (scoliosis and kyphosis).
In our joint surgery specialized outpatient service, we perform various osteotomy and artificial joint operations for hip and knee joint degenerative diseases. We also perform reconstruction operations and endoscopic surgery for shoulder, elbow, and knee joint degenerative diseases and external injury and we guide rehabilitation for athletes. We also provide conservative treatment with prosthetics and orthotics etc. and comprehensive medical treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.
In our hand surgery specialized outpatient service, we perform surgical operations requiring advanced techniques such as replantation of an amputated limb or finger by microsurgery, transplantation of complex tissues after an external injury, or removing a malignant tumor in order to reconstruct extremity function. We also conduct various treatments including plastic surgery for congenital limb malformation and minimally invasive neurolysis for entrapment peripheral neuropathy etc.
In our pediatric orthopedic surgery specialized outpatient service, we perform conservative and surgical treatment for pediatric congenital diseases (dislocation of the hip joint, clubfoot, torticollis muscularis etc.), Perthes disease, and slipped capital femoral epiphysis, and also perform limb lengthening for patients who have a limb growth defect.
Handling for arms and legs injury (bone fracture, dislocation, and distortion etc.)
We have been working to enrich emergency medicine since 1998 by setting clinical care staff specialized in orthopedic surgery within the advanced emergency medical center. We perform medical treatment for patients with multiple injuries which are difficult to treat in regular hospitals: highly comminuted fractures, intra‐articular fractures which are difficult to have repositioned, and those with severe internal medicine complications.