DORR RESEARCH FOUNDATION THE JOINT JOURNAL • Volume 11 • August 2018 General Information TOTAL HIP REPLACEMENT by Lawrence D. Dorr, M.D. 323-747-6641 FTER a fun and successful weekend of golf I woke up on Monday morning with my New Patient Aback so sore I could barely walk. I canceled Appointments one day, then another, then the whole week. By with the following Monday I was sick and admitted to the hospital. I had a septicemia with the germ Lawrence D. Dorr, M.D. staph aureus which originated from my elbow. or The probable origin of the elbow infection was a bug bite during golf. The bacteria circulating in Paul K. Gilbert, M.D. my bloodstream landed in my spine and affected 323-747-6641 three lumbar discs and one thoracic disc. I can testify that spinal discitis is a really painful disease. Jeri Ward R.N. To compound it I was allergic to the initial intra- 310-493-8073 venous antibiotic used. It took two weeks to determine that because this allergy is so rare. I Lawrence D. Dorr, M.D. [email protected] spent one month in bed and this results in 50% deconditioning of the body, so it has been a difficult road to rehabilitation. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Three months after the onset of this disease I am now strong again, and nearing normal function. Since this is the first real illness I have had, it was Total Hip Replacement .1 an enlightening experience for me! I have never had much patience but with New Developments Continued on Page 6 Enhance Our Practice ....2 Former USC Song Girl Operation Walk will honor founder Finds Healing ................2 LAWRENCE D. DORR M.D. Operation Walk – Saturday, October 6, 2018 Changing Lives, One Please join us for an exciting event at the California Club in Los Angeles. Visit our Operation at a Time .....6 website at www.operationwalk.org for details on sponsorship and ticketing, as well as information on how you can participate in honoring Dr. Dorr. Alejandra Castillo Joins Operation Walk LA For more information contact Jeri Ward at Team ..............................8 [email protected] or 310-493-8073 or Alejandra Castillo at [email protected] or (424) 558-8076. www.operationwalk.org www.drdorr.com New Developments Enhance Our Practice by Dr. Paul K. Gilbert n May of this year, Verdugo Hills IHospital received certification as a Hip and Knee Replacement Center of Excellence. This was the result of hard work by our entire multidisciplinary Dr. Paul K. Gilbert team. The focus has been on an efficient process, great outcomes and patient satisfaction. from anywhere there is internet access to enter Our Makoplasty robotic surgery is now a virtual operating room to teach and practice extended to include total knee replacements. This surgery. phenomenal technology, which has revolution- You can see that we have been busy and ized partial knee replacements, is now being used things are happening. Our entire team is working for the full knee replacements. hard to bring the best tools, the best patient In partnership with OramaVR, Dr. Dorr and I centered programs and to share these techniques have introduced virtual reality as a teaching tool. with others. I can’t wait to see what the future This technology allows as many as seven people holds! We are now collecting donations of canes, crutches, walkers and commodes for our 2019 missions Pedro Lopez practices Clean, gently used items can be dropped off stairs just four at the office during your follow up visits, hours after hip or at our Torrance office Monday through replacement Friday between 10 am and 2 pm. Please call surgery. Alejandra Castillo to arrange drop-off at Read more (424) 558-8076. Operation Walk post- The Torrance address is 381 Van Ness Ave, replacement Suite 1514, Torrance, CA 90501 and is success stories located in the Van Ness Business Park in the on pages 6–7. southwest corner of the park. 2 • DORR RESEARCH FOUNDATION • August 2018 Contact Us at 323-747-6641 Total Hip Replacement continued from page 1 this disease I had no control and had to learn artificial limbs, blood pressure pills, and insulin patience! Fortunately my wife of fifty years was a are examples. I expect that the revolution of fabulous nurse. She gave up all her own activities genetic research which is so prevalent today to care for me, and certainly that is one reason will find cures for disease. But the heroes in I am returned to normal. Love is a powerful medicine are those who created revolutions. medicine! I felt it from all my friends, my medical Penicillin is the one discovery that created a team, national colleagues and class of drugs that can cure infec- patients who were truly concerned tions, and it is the most important about me. discovery in medicine. There are While I recovered I had much not many heroes: Morton for anes- time to reflect on my passion – thesia; Pasteur for germ theory; Total Hip Replacement. I read the Lister for antisepsis; Fleming for history of Sir John Charnley who penicillin; Salk for polio vaccine; developed THR. He had failures in Ridley for cataract lens; Lillehei his first use of plastics for the cup. for open heart surgery; DeBakey Fortunately he persisted and a new for vascular surgery; Harrington and good plastic was found. But the for spinal fixation; and Charnley impact of what he accomplished for joint replacement. Since the is difficult to comprehend. THR is 1960s the only revolution has been Dr. Dorr measuring leg a medical revolution that changed heart stents in the late 1980s. All lengths by feeling the iliac other developments in medicine society. Every joint replacement crest of the patient. mimics the principles of Charnley are evolutionary not revolutionary. so indirectly every replacement has his work I participated in evolution with behind it. Think about how many people can non-cemented hip replacement and advances travel, play golf or the sport they enjoy, hike, in patient care after surgery. But I have had the play with grandkids, and remain productive good fortune of being a surgeon in the golden era because of a total hip, total knee, or shoulder. of surgery, and contributing to its improvement. Certainly it has contributed to a longer life My time of reflection allowed me to appre- expectancy. Prior to Charnley’s discovery, people ciate even more the operations with which I were severely disabled by their hip arthritis and have made my career – Total Hip and Knee deep depression was common because they were Replacement – and appreciate every patient who isolated from their social world. The depth of has let me operate on them. THANK YOU. I their disability is illustrated by the reality that came to appreciate the magnitude of the impact when Charnley’s first design of THR failed in 2-3 of Operation Walk on all who have experienced years, they still lined up at his clinic and said they it, and its impact on Orthopedics. I have always would accept 2-3 years of relief. believed in God, and this healing time only In medicine we are good at repairing the strengthened my gratitude for His gifts to me. human machine – joint replacement, cataract My healing from this disease has provided me lenses, fracture fixation devices, new coronary the opportunity to continue to be a doctor for a arteries, spinal fixation devices, hearing aids, while longer. I am thankful for that. DORR RESEARCH FOUNDATION • August 2018 • 3 www.drdorr.com Former USC Song Girl Finds Healing • Reflections on Successful Hip Surgery at the Keck Medical Center of USC by Dorie Mattson was introduced to the USC Trojan Family by my father who was a dedicated alumnus. I The sight of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum still conjures up childhood memories of times spent with dad cheering on the Trojan football team – one of the most storied teams in the history of college football. While the athletic talents of the football team made quite an impression, it was the artistic talents of the cheering USC Song Girls that caught my attention. The USC Song Girls connected two of my passions – a youthful delight in the art of dance and a respected university that would chal- lenge my insatiable love of learning. Only years later, when I realized my childhood dream, did I understand the hard work it took to be a USC Song Girl. Symbolizing USC’s proud tradition of school spirit and athletic excellence, the Song Former USC Song Girl Dorie Mattson’s training Girls appear at athletic games, rallies, alumni as a dancer helped her recover rapidly from hip functions and media events. replacement surgery. In my years as a USC Song Girl, the squad Center, “Dance is as much about pounding was honored to perform at the Rose Bowl game athleticism as it is art.” as well as traveling to numerous athletic events such as the USC vs. Norte Dame game in South I first noticed a problem with my right hip Bend, Indiana, and the International Collegiate joint when I returned to USC to study at the Football Game in Tokyo, Japan. While I enjoyed Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Climbing the challenging schedule, the flexibility and up and down the stairs at the USC parking struc- strength required to perform complex choreogra- ture for class triggered sharp hip pain. While phy was exhausting. Upon graduating from USC arthritis, injury, and aging are among the many my dance activity continued. causes behind the degeneration of joints, per- forming recurrent choreography most likely I embarked on an unusual career path that led added to the erosion of my hip joint.