Even though she was living with arthritis in both ankles and knees, Montgomery County, Maryland, resident Meghan Lembesis led a busy, active life that included horseback riding, hikes in the nearby woods, yoga classes, and swimming at the town lake.
“In general, I was able to manage the pain,” she says. But one morning as she got out of bed, she took two steps and fell to the floor because of unbearable pain in her right ankle, the result of an injury to her Achilles tendon. That injury exacerbated the existing pain in her right ankle, leaving her reliant on a cane and unable to walk on any uneven surface, like the grass in her pasture or the sand at the town beach.
“Suddenly, I couldn’t do any of the things I enjoyed, like walking with friends or even working in the garden,” Meghan adds.
Unwilling to let pain limit her, Meghan made an appointment with her orthopaedist, who recommended a colleague specializing in conditions that affect the foot and ankle. But there was a complicating factor. Meghan has always been allergic to nickel and was potentially allergic to other metals. That meant standard ankle replacement with a metal joint was out of the question.
While researching orthopaedists online, Meghan discovered Paul Cooper, MD, a foot and ankle orthopaedic specialist, and the director of the Foot and Ankle Center at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. Meghan dug further into his background and was encouraged by what she found.
“When I saw on his MedStar Georgetown physician’s page that he had worked with every ankle replacement system in existence, I had hope he could help me,” says Meghan.
Unlike other orthopaedists Meghan had consulted, Dr. Cooper was not fazed by her metal allergy. In fact, he was able to offer her a groundbreaking option—a metal-free joint made of a plastic called polyetherketoneketone (PEKK).
“PEKK implants have been used for more than 10 years to replace skull bone in neurosurgery, and in the past few years, the field has expanded to include orthopaedic implants to replace bone removed during cancer surgery,” explains Dr. Cooper. “I had been working with a supplier to use this material to create replacement joints and Meghan was the perfect candidate for the first 3D-printed, all-plastic ankle.”
Beyond being a solution to her metal allergy, the PEKK ankle also offered a number of other advantages, including the ability to customize the joint for each patient, the flexibility to trim and adjust it in the operating room during surgery to achieve a precise fit, and the fact that an all-plastic joint is as strong as a metal one but four to seven times lighter, depending on which joint is being replaced, so it feels better for the patient.
After a successful surgery performed by Dr. Cooper, Meghan became the first person in the world to receive an all-plastic replacement ankle and was able to go home the same day.
“For years, Meghan was living with the pain of bone-on-bone arthritis,” says Dr. Cooper. “Four months after her surgery, she was doing well, continuing to recover and easing back into the activities she enjoys. Because MedStar Georgetown is an academic medical center, we’re able to offer our patients cutting-edge treatment options that are carefully studied and well vetted, something they can’t find at other centers.”
Meghan is grateful to be moving towards a return to her active life. “With Dr. Cooper, I felt seen, heard, and understood,” she says. “I knew I was in extraordinarily skilled hands.”
MedStar Georgetown is part of the MedStar Orthopaedic Institute, with 47 orthopaedic surgery specialists at 20 locations throughout Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Visit MedStarOrthopaedicInstitute.org for more information.
Click here to make an appointment with one of our orthopaedic specialists or call 202-444-8766.