Guest guest Posted July 4, 2002 Report Share Posted July 4, 2002 Bone Repair When you break a bone, doctors usually harvest bone from other parts of your body to help you heal. Yet that doesn't work for everyone. Now there's a new technique that uses the patient's own blood, and it's making a difference! It sounds simple, but for Joan Hardy making a meal wasn't always easy. Two years ago, this 76-year-old grandmother was hit by a car. " The car just revved up and picked me up and threw me down a concrete driveway, " says Joan. Joan broke her arm and leg. She had multiple surgeries, but her arm never fully healed. " The only way I could move that arm is if I picked it up with my other hand and lifted it. " Then Joan found orthopedic trauma surgeon J. , M.D. of the Detroit Receiving Hospital in Michigan. He used a new procedure called autologous growth factor, or AGF, to heal her arm. " It's a way to harvest the body's own growth hormones to help the body heal itself without having to take a number of different incisions, " says Dr. . With AGF, the patient's own blood is refined and mixed with bone grafting material, creating a putty-like substance. " It's very moldable and squishable. Once it hardens it's just like bone, " says Dr. . Joan is doing things now she couldn't do before. " After the surgery, I had immediate motion in my fingers. " Now when her husband feeds her, it's just for fun. The AGF procedure has been around for about a year now. Ideal candidates are those who've broken their bones in accidents or whose fractures have had a hard time healing. If you would like more information, please call: J. , M.D. Division of Orthopaedic Traumatology at Detroit Receiving Hospital and Wayne State University School of Medicine 4201 St. Antoine Detroit, MI 48201 (313) 745-3415 http://www.rnews.com/health/items/961547486.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 5, 2002 Report Share Posted July 5, 2002 a, Thank you for this most informative article. I am going to bring it with me on my next appointment. I don't know if it is applicable to my condition, but even if he says NO, I won't be any worse off than I am right now. I have made a decision. From this point forward, I will be known as the Bone Ranger. I think this is an appropriate name for me and this skeleton! Thanks again, my friend. Gentle, tender, angel hugs, Debs aka Bone Ranger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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