You infer incorrectly. Not only have I not hidden from this "technology," but I have both performed and taught these procedures from as long ago as hand rasping for HM was popular to the newest of techniques. But that is not to say that I routinely favor them. For one thing, they are, for the most part, performed blind, without adequate visualization of the surgical site and/or adjacent tissues. I have too often seen the radiographic as well as the functional proof that they can be incideously dangerous, and their seemingly relative simplicty as far as the patient appreciates ofuscates this fact.
As far as hospital stays are concerned now-a-days, they are virtually non-existent for surgery of the foot and for most other non-life threatening surgeries anyhow. But there are many other advantages of operating in a hospital setting . . . even if the procedure is performed out-patient (see my 9/28/04 reply to Harry).
I have iterated and reiterated that there is a place for these procedures, but one must pick and choose their correct application.
Finally, you would be hard pressed to deny that charlatanism, incompetence, and profit motive are pervasive in many of the devotees of these sorts of surgeries in podiatry. Many of these practioners not only do not have hospital priveleges . . . and not necessarily out of choice, but have been repeated denied them. This is not necessarily a condemnation of these procedures, or all those who perform them, but, in my opinion, extra caution should be exercised by those patients who are subjected to slick and/or high-pressure presentations, expecially where too-good-to-be-true scenarios are given. |
