The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently granted Dr. Steven Chudik with the Steven Chudik MD Shoulder, Knee & Sports Injury Clinic, Westmont, Ill., another patent, US 9,445,910 B2, for his original method of minimally invasive shoulder replacement surgery. He previously received a patent for arthroscopic rotator cuff repair.
Dr. Chudik’s minimally invasive shoulder replacement procedure is under development and potential benefits for patients will include:
- The shoulder does not have to be dislocated.
- The rotator cuff muscles are not cut.
- Bone is preserved.
- The procedure can be done as outpatient surgery.
- Patients do not have to wear a sling after surgery
- Recovery is four to six weeks, not four to six months required today with traditional, open total shoulder replacement surgery.
“The patent process required a tremendous amount of work and persistence. In all, I think the process took about 12 years,” said Dr. Chudik. “Because of the many benefits this procedure can provide to people with arthritic shoulders, I am hopeful development will continue to move forward and it can be approved for its intended use in the United States,” he explained. “Versions of my procedure are being performed in Europe and it is being used in the U.S. to arthroscopically transplant cartilage in arthritic shoulders as a ‘biologic’ shoulder replacement alternative,” he added.