Young Woman's Healthy Knee Ruined By Surgeon 's Experiment

A young Russian woman goes to see a world-class surgeon at a clinic (AlphaKlinik) in Munich to have a second opinion on a possible torn medial meniscus due to medial compartment pain when climbing stairs. The local Orthopeadic and Radiologist report nothing found wrong in the knee, Xrays or MRI's. But, she has been bed-ridden 6 months due to two endoscopic spine surgeries and can not sit or stand 10 minutes. The spine surgery was done at the same clinic (AK) 3 months earlier. After that last spine surgery she could not bend her knees beyond 90 degrees due to something catching. She had been scheduled to have an Artificial Disc Replacement at the same clinic (AK), and had been very concerned that her knee problems would get worse and that she would not be able to walk for rehabilitation after the ADR surgery. As the video illustrates, she was VERY healthy before transferring to Germany for her parent company Texas Instruments. She had never had a knee problem - or any problem. She had only suffered a minor disc herniation while moving to Germany.
She decides to get a second opinion and makes 4 painful trips to the AK to see a world-class knee specialist (Dr. Juergen Toft). But, she never gets to see the Knee Surgeon, as he is constantly in surgery. She only sees the surgeon's assistant, who says she needs a lateral release on BOTH knees, along with the suggest medial meniscus check. He knows the full course of the spine surgeries and the weakness thereafter. MRI's are taken of BOTH knees, and they look exactly the same in terms of the retro-patellar cartilage. The Radiologist's report says, No Sign of Chondromalacia! Soon after, a letter is received from the AK stating that an arthroscopic check of the meniscus is URGENT. No mention is ever made in any of the letters, emails or Pre-Op Medical Report about any shaving chondroplasty procedure on the patella. She is told in an email from the surgeon (Dr. Toft) that the medial meniscus problem is relatively minor, and she should expect to be on her feet in 2 weeks, and that the knee surgery should therefore be done BEFORE the Artificial Disc Replace in the L4/5 spine. Dr. Toft wanted HIS surgery FIRST!
After the surgery, she wakes up with a medial meniscus thermal ablation & synovectomy, a lateral release (severed ligament) and a 'Shaving Chondroplasty' of the patella. It is found that this shaving procedure is ONLY done when the patella shows Grade III/IV chondromalacia, per Dr. Toft's own profuse literature on the subject, and every other reference found. The surgeon writes that you should see fronds and filaments hanging loose - not a clean, white, smooth cartilage as is clearly evident in the arthroscopic video. The patient will later learn that 99% of all patello-femoral problems can be corrected by simple strengthening of the Vastus Medialis Obliquus (VMO quads) muscles. These muscles hold the patella stable and in its groove. This explains why he knees were both locking at 90 degrees after 6 months in bed. The patellae were mal-tracking. Sadly, the AK had a large rehab facility across the street, but they did not recommend that she visit it - (except after the surgery). A lateral release is found to require a VERY long rehabilitation, and should be done as a last resort on provably congenitally tilted patella. It is absurd to cut a ligament rather than simply strengthening the apposing muscles - especially when the patient is obviously severely weak.
The literature further states that 50% of people over 30 show signs of Chondromalacia, and 100% of people over 60 years of age. It is also found, that the Knee Surgeon is in a battle with other Orthopaedic surgeons with respect to this shaving chondroplasty procedure. The Surgeon repeatedly extols that he has "irrefutable evidence" that Shaving Chondroplasty on Grade III/IV Chondromalacia can save a person from a Total Knee Replacement. The surgeon also repeatedly states that, after such a Shaving Chondroplasty, that it is critical to keep weight off the knee for a minimum 8 weeks - in order to allow the blood clot to stick and induce fibrocarilage generation. The Patient's Rehab instructions, signed by the Surgeon, state that she need only keep weight off for 3 weeks!
Two years later, the young woman's Left kneecap is still inflamed, she can not put any weight on the knee, and her left quads have atrophied to near nothing. She is, for all intensive purposes, crippled for life.

The AlphaKlinik no longer exists. It seems the AK doctor's were in some kind of battle, and went into insolvency after being sued by a huge number of German patients. The above mentioned Russian patient was refused legal redress by her German lawyers (but only after they took her retainer fees). Dozens of German doctors have seen the video, and everyone of them said the Patella was perfectly healthy.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Russian
• Woman
• Shaving
• Chondroplasty
• HOT
• RF
• Probe

[spinesupport]

google: Alpha-Klinik: Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt gegen Ex-Chefs

Chefärzte werden der Unterschlagung und Insolvenzverschleppung verdächtigt – Zivilprozess soll am 13. Februar beginnen

Head physicians are suspected of the embezzlement and insolvency misappropriation - civil proceedings

Google: Pleite! Münchner Promi-Arzt abgetaucht

"Allegedly Toft is in London or Moscow" owes huge debts to architects, banks and employees. Toft lawyer: where he is exactly, we do not know"

[fraydcat]

You are not saying a whole lot here and it sounds vague...The knee surgery sounded like it was a bad idea with out a lot of research on her part...and NOW there is a problem...the back problem sounds like she had multiple disc problems and not just a re-do of the one first operated on...

Watching this makes me wonder what are you trying to say...You didn't do enough research and now you got what you got...

Sorry...

[spinesupport]

Yes, we did not do research before the Knee surgery. That is because the Surgeon said he would CHECK for a torn Medial Meniscus. Instead, he SHAVED the patella - no warning, no discussion. Every Knee doctor who has seen this video says it was perfectly healthy before. Incidentally, the AlphaKlinik is shut-down now. Even in Germany it is ILLEGAL to experiment on people. Shaving Chondroplasty is described as Experimental in most publications.

[fraydcat]

Wow, that seems where it went wrong...what was the guy thinking? The back surgery is always a gamble no matter what...A friend of mine just came back from Germany yesterday, but it was at another place, and they did the procedure using a titanium device with a polymer type replacement disc...He was up and walking a day after his surgery and he seems to be getting around better already...so we will see the long term effects or this and hopefully it will be a good outcome. I wish your friend well.

[spinesupport]

Thanks for the kinds words.

For us, it was a conspiracy of coincidences. We were working in Germany - unlike most Americans who visit Germany. We were stuck there because of the (one) disc-problem. We were naive, because we had never had any medical issues before. A year later, and the AlphaKlinik would have been gone already. We were stupid enough to go to a surgeon who BOASTS of 35,000 Knee surgeries. He's the best, because he said so. Now we know the truth. And we are paying for it.

[toby099]

this could of been me actually, im glad my physio got my VMO strengthened

[spinesupport]

@toby099 Yes, that is exactly what the literature states one should do for any degree of chondromalacia: Strengthen the Vastus Medialus Obliquus - and about 10 other options before surgery.

Unfortunately, we were naive and trusted the surgeon.  This Shaving was never mentioned - so how could we question it? We were told 'check medial meniscus - its urgent!'

For an excellent page on the subject, google "Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome: A Review and Guidelines for Treatment"

[dogmattic1357]

@datzfast : Our lawyer in Germany actually helped take down the AlphaKlinik, and thus put Toft out of business. The innocent staff of that clinic (ie everyone except the 3 chief surgeons), are now working for the new clinic atos-muenchen.de . Toft owes something like 300,000 Euro or more to various people ... ergo, no one can find him. I'm betting that he is still living it up ... and will need to finance his lifestyle ... and will thus dig a very deep hole for himself.

[datzfast]

she should have never hired a lawyer, a professinal hit man should have been hired.

[MELISSA84008]

I am crying for your friend.( I had 3 knee surgeries in 5 months. 2 acl repairs. and then last Monday I had left knee ligament replacement. The Dr. told me today at my post-op visit,that he found bone chips under my knee-cap and had to shave them. ??? Now I'm scared after reading what you wrote.) I am SO sorry for this poor girl!!! Thank God she has you to support her!! Did she have the back surgery???I will pray for you both!!!! I can't believe this happened,its so tragic!!!