Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital surpasses 1,000 knee replacements: Relief found for local orthopedic patients using robotic-arm assisted surgeries

HUNTLEY — Richmond resident Lauri Cook had been living with severe knee pain for several years, which greatly affected her quality of life and limited what she could do daily.

After some time, injections used to ease Cook’s knee pain stopped working, leading Cook to book an appointment at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital where she met with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brian Flanagan, MD.

Flanagan discovered that Cook’s knee was bone rubbing on bone and needed surgery to finally provide the relief she needed to return to a pain-free life.

“When I first heard I would require surgery, I envisioned a long stay at the hospital and an intense recovery,” said Cook. “I didn’t realize I would start walking the same day of the surgery, and that I would be able to go home the same day.”

How Cook was able to return home shortly after what may seem like a highly invasive surgical procedure all had to do with Flanagan’s use of a high-tech robotic system called the Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted Surgery.

The surgical system allows surgeons to image the knee with a CT scan, develop a 3D virtual model, and then load the model into the system to create a personalized pre-operative plan.

A surgeon is then able to guide the robotic arm to execute the patient’s plan which then improves joint alignment while also creating a custom-fit implant.

The Mako technology can be used for partial or full knee replacement, which according to Northwestern Medicine, is a procedure designed to relieve the pain caused by joint degeneration due to osteoarthritis.

By selectively targeting the part of the knee damaged by osteoarthritis, surgeons can replace the diseased part of the knee while helping to spare the healthy bone and ligaments surrounding it.

The hospital’s Mako technology can also be used for hip replacement surgeries.

For about a month after her surgery, Cook worked with her in-home physical therapist, a journey which she recalls as being challenging, though not enough to deter her from pushing herself into making a full recovery.

Cook continued her rehabilitation at an outpatient physical therapy center for about another month.

A year after her surgery, Cook explains that her life has vastly improved. With her knee now working properly and without pain, Cook took to walking and says she can now move around more freely.

Along with increasing her physical activity, Cook began cutting down on her portion sizes which allowed her to lose 70 pounds.

Cook states that she has more energy than she ever had before her surgery and is happy that she no longer has to take the pain medications that she had been on for more than 10 years.

“I am a completely different person than I was last year,” said Cook. “I was letting my situation control me. It felt good knowing that I had the courage to take control and take the leap to do something about it, and I am reaping the benefits of being pain-free each day.”

Lake in the Hills resident Kathleen O’Herren-Huston shared a similar experience to that of Cook’s, explaining that she could not walk without experiencing significant pain due to suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.

“I had consistent, sharp pain in my knee where it connected to my shin. I couldn’t walk upstairs without pain, and it was difficult to do things I enjoyed, like gardening or running around with my son,” stated O’Herren-Huston.

She continued, “I had surgery to repair a torn meniscus and was not able to put weight on my leg for four weeks. I gained weight leading up to my total knee replacement because I wasn’t able to be totally mobile, as the pain was terrible. Then COVID hit, and it was a circle of defeat. The weight gain was hard on my knee, but it was hard to walk to lose the weight because of the pain.”

O’Herren-Huston met with Flanagan where he explained that she would require a total knee replacement to alleviate her pain. Following the news, she did not hesitate in scheduling her knee surgery right away.

“I asked Dr. Flanagan many questions and he patiently answered each one, reassuring me I was making the correct decision regarding my future mobility,” said O’Herren-Huston.

After her surgery, O’Herren-Huston attended all of her scheduled physical therapy sessions and carefully followed Flanagan’s post-surgery instructions.

Her positive attitude and willingness to follow her physical therapist’s instructions strengthened her knee, increased her range of motion, and immensely increased her mobility.

“All my hard work to recover was well worth it. I am not in constant pain, and I am able to enjoy things in life that I thought I would never enjoy again,” said O’Herren-Huston, who is currently walking six to eight miles per day and has lost 63 pounds since her January 2021 surgery.

Since launching in January 2020, Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital’s Mako program recently surpassed its 1,000th Mako surgery.

“With the precision and accuracy that the MAKO system provides, we are able to provide our patients with improved outcomes,” said Flanagan. “Many daily tasks that most take for granted, including walking and going up and down stairs, were not possible for some of our patients without experiencing tremendous amounts of pain. With the technology now available, these activities are now back within reach.”

For more information about Northwestern Medicine, visit www.nm.org.