Nov 5, 2007 8:06 am US/Mountain
Artificial Knee Makes Colorado Teen A 'Bionic Boy'
by Kathy Walsh
DENVER (CBS4) ―
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Jason Lansdown prepares for surgery
CBS
A Colorado teenager is getting used to an artificial leg, a limb which has earned him the title "Bionic Boy" in the medical world.
Jason Lansdown, 16, was diagnosed with cancer in the bone after complaining of pain in his knee while the family was on vacation in July.
At first, everyone thought it would get better but then came the X-ray revealing the tumor.
"It was like someone hit me over the head," said Guy Lansdown, Jason's father.
Lansdown underwent chemotherapy and his friends showed support by shaving their heads, but the cancer forced the removal of the part of the bone with the cancerous tumor.
That's where orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ronald Hugate came in. He cut out 10 inches of Lansdown's tibia and his knee, then designed a custom prosthesis to replace the knee during a surgery that lasted nearly five hours at Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center.
"We are entirely rebuilding the top half of his leg," Hugate said.
The implant contains a honeycomb-like material called trabecular metal foam, metal which allows bone and soft tissue to grow into it.
"When this implant is completely accepted by Jason's body," said Hugate. "It's going to be 70 percent his tissue and 30 percent metal so it will be more him than it is metal."
One end of the implant is hammered into the remaining bone; the tendons are stitched to the other end.
Hugate also moved Lansdown's calf muscle from the back of his leg to the front to protect the implant.
Recovery is expected to take about a year with intense physical therapy and another round of chemotherapy to kill any remaining cancer, but Lansdown hopes the procedure will give him what he misses the most: a chance to be normal.
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