Summary
A longtime bowler and former baseball pitcher faced a scheduled total knee replacement due to chronic knee pain and joint deterioration from years of athletic impact. After attending a seminar hosted by Deuk Spine Institute, he learned about the Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy® — a minimally invasive alternative — and chose to pursue it instead. Less than 24 hours after the procedure, performed by Dr. Ara Deukmedjian at Deuk Spine Institute, the patient reported zero pain, canceled his knee replacement entirely, and said he was ready to bowl again the very next day.
Transcript:
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: I’m Dr. Deukmedjian. I’m sitting here with one of our patients who had the Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy® for his knee. He was scheduled to have a total knee replacement, actually quite a ways out from now. He heard our talk about the Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy® (DPR) for the knee. He came and saw Dr. Davis, and Dr. Davis performed a wonderful procedure just yesterday, less than 24 hours ago. Actually, 6:30, 7 o’clock last night, and here I am this morning.
Patient: I have zero pain. I was very afraid of the upcoming surgery. I happened to luck into a seminar that Dr. Deuk was speaking at, and it intrigued me to the point of I followed up. Here I am, months ahead of schedule with zero pain, moving forward.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: You still gonna get that knee replacement?
Patient: No, that’s done. Not a chance. We canceled that.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Yeah, you can see knee replacements are invasive procedures, and often patients lose blood. They have complications like infections or loosening of the hardware, and then they have to have revision surgery, and they always tell you those knee replacements are only going to last you 10 years, and then you’ve got to get another one done. Who wants that? I mean, why not go in there? You can see right here we made three tiny three-millimeter incisions — one, two, three. In 15 minutes, he was pain-free with our new procedure that we do at Deuk Spine Institute and Deuk Joint Institute. And I’m gonna let Dr. Davis come in and take over from here.
Dr. Davis: All right. You made it here, chief. You were just waking up from surgery — from our procedure. I asked you, I said, how does your knee feel? You were just barely awake. You remember what you said?
Patient: I think I said, I don’t feel a thing.
Dr. Davis: That’s exactly what you said. You said, “I don’t feel a thing,” and I went over and visited you less than 10 minutes after surgery. You were pain-free.
Patient: Absolutely, and amazed. I think I asked you if there were any more 300 bowling games left in my knee, and you said yeah, I think so.
Dr. Davis: For sure, some 280s. I found a couple of them in there. He had a split on one of the last frames, so it kind of ruined it for him. But as somebody who’s a bowler — and that’s your slide leg.
Patient: It is. Takes a lot of impact, and prior to that, I was a baseball pitcher, so my left knee has had a lot of impact on it and a lot of stress. I was very, very concerned about moving forward, but I still have that ability. Quite frankly, the pictures and the word that I’ve seen about knee replacements made me consider alternatives, and then luckily I found this. I’m ready to bowl tomorrow.
Dr. Davis: You know, my entire career I did hip and knee replacements — that was my job. It was always difficult knowing that patients didn’t always get the results that you wanted with the knee replacement, especially. I’ve just been on this side of it now. I’m totally amazed how quickly and how well patients do with this procedure. The thing that we’re trying to do here at Deuk Joint and Deuk Spine — we want to make people better with the least amount of downtime and the least amount of complications, to give them the best results. We’re excited that you chose us.
Patient: You did a heck of a job, and thank you so much for alleviating that pre-surgery stress and tension that comes with a procedure like this.
Dr. Davis: It’s a lot less stressful than getting the knee replacement.
Patient: Oh yeah.
Dr. Davis: Glad we were able to work with you.
Patient: Thank you. Maybe I’ll see you on the lanes.
Dr. Davis: Oh, it sounds good. I hope you get back into it.
The Better Way: Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy®
This patient underwent the Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy® — a minimally invasive, outpatient procedure performed at Deuk Joint Institute as an alternative to total knee replacement. Using only three small 3mm incisions and completed in approximately 15 minutes, the Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy® targets the nerves responsible for knee pain, providing rapid relief with minimal downtime, no hardware, and none of the long-term risks associated with joint replacement surgery.