Republished with permission from Becker Spine Review
Richard A. Berger, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush in Chicago, has become the first physician in the country to perform 10,000 outpatient minimally invasive joint replacement surgeries.
“In 2001, my first outpatient total hip surgeries were on young, healthy patients,” Dr. Berger said. “Things went so well that in 2003 we opened up outpatient procedures to slightly older patients and started doing them for total knee. By 2005, I was able to perform outpatient hip and knee replacements on everyone.”
He credits a minimally invasive procedure and alternative pain regimens for patients to return home within 24 hours of surgery.