Brooklyn, NY (Jan 18, 2024)— Surgeons at Maimonides Health recently performed a shoulder replacement surgery using new technology that maps out a patient’s unique shoulder anatomy to make an individualized, computer-generated prothesis.
Ramin Sadeghpour, MD, shoulder and upper extremity surgeon at the Maimonides Bone and Joint Center, performed the cutting-edge procedure in September, making Maimonides the first in Brooklyn, the second in New York state, and among a small group of health systems nationwide to utilize this advanced surgical technique.
Dr. Sadeghpour performed the surgery on a patient with shoulder arthritis, with excellent results. The main benefit of the procedure is preservation of bone in the shoulder, which would normally need to be shaved to provide a flat surface for prosthetic implants in comparable procedures.
“Before this new technique, surgeons would need to put a flat implant on a curved structure, the shoulder socket,” said Dr. Sadeghpour. “In order to make that match, you actually have to shave the socket flat, and you remove bone from the shoulder, which is beneficial to keep in case the patient needs a future surgery or other procedure to address their condition. The custom implant fits exactly to the patient’s shoulder and allows the surgeon to precisely match preoperative planning with intraoperative implant placement.”
The process begins with a CT scan, which is uploaded to a computer and used to generate a custom implant using 3D printing, which fits each patient’s unique shoulder anatomy precisely. The sterile implant is sent directly to the operating room, where the orthopedic surgeon places it without the need to remove any bone from the shoulder. This timeline from CT scan to the operating room takes just around four weeks. The surgery itself then requires less time in the operating room; it significantly streamlines the procedure and allows for high efficiency and precision.
This latest procedure builds upon Maimonides’ expertise and offerings of cutting-edge techniques in orthopedic surgery. Performing more shoulder replacement procedures than any other group in Brooklyn, this year, the Medical Center was also among the first in the nation to perform shoulder replacement surgery using advanced mixed-reality virtual technology, resulting in more efficient and accurate implant placement and improved function and recovery post-procedure.
Maimonides is ranked #1 in New York for Orthopedic Surgery, according to a 2023 Healthgrades analysis. It was also ranked by Healthgrades among America’s Best 100 Hospitals for Orthopedic Surgery and received the Healthgrades Orthopedic Surgery Excellence Award. In the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals ranking for 2023–24, Maimonides was rated High Performing for orthopedic care.
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About Maimonides Health
Maimonides Health is Brooklyn’s largest healthcare system, serving over 350,000 patients each year through the system’s 3 hospitals, 2,000+ physicians and more than 80 community-based practices and outpatient centers. The system is anchored by Maimonides Medical Center, one of the nation’s largest independent teaching hospitals and home to centers of excellence in numerous specialties and Maimonides Midwood Community Hospital (formerly New York Community Hospital), a 130-bed adult medical-surgical hospital; and Maimonides Children’s Hospital, Brooklyn’s only children’s hospital and only pediatric trauma center. Maimonides’ clinical programs rank among the best in the country for patient outcomes, including its Heart and Vascular Institute, Neurosciences Institute, Bone and Joint Center, and Cancer Center. Maimonides is an affiliate of Northwell Health and a major clinical training site for SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. For additional information, please visit maimo.org.