"Total Joint Replacement: A Patient's Perspective" Documentary Debuts

New York, NY—July 23, 2004

Dr. Thomas P. Sculco, Hospital for Special Surgery's Surgeon-in-Chief, is featured in "Total Joint Replacement: A Patient's Perspective." This unprecedented documentary provides a personal glimpse into the lives of four patients confronting the need for total joint replacement (TJR). The program will air on WNYE-TV, Channel 25 in New York City on Sunday, August 1 at 2 p.m. and Friday, August 6 at 8 p.m.

Two of the four featured patients live in New York City - Sophia Gershfeld, 62, a Manhattan resident who works for the New York City Department of Transportation, and Eugene Zongrone, 59, a bank executive from the Bronx. Gershfeld and Zongrone suffered through years of pain prior to their hip replacement surgery. Mr. Zongrone's surgery was performed at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

The 52-minute film provides an inside look at these patients and their families, as they make the decision to have hip or knee replacement surgery. Viewers will see firsthand the emotional and physical issues these patients face, including their day-by-day struggles with pain, coupled with the trials and triumphs of surgery and rehabilitation.

The film explores a subject that affects about 70 million Americans with arthritis or chronic joint problems, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More than 700,000 individuals had hip or knee arthroplasty (joint replacement) in 2002, according to health care resources.

Peter Rosen, the New York-based Emmy Award-winning producer/director, who had successful hip replacement surgery in 1999, produced the documentary. Rosen and his crew spent eight months following the lives of these patients from New York City, Michigan and California.

The documentary is sponsored by the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) and the Orthopaedic Research Education Foundation (OREF). For more information about the documentary, visit http://www.aahks.org/patients/documentary/index.asp

WNYE, the public television station owned by the New York City Department of Education, reaches about 9 million homes throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. WNYE-TV viewing information is Channel 25 (Time Warner Cable), Channel 22 (Cablevision), Channel 888 (DirectTV in New Jersey) and Channel 25 (DirectTV in New York).

Corporations and individual donors funding the documentary project include: Dr. and Mrs. Dane Miller (Biomet), DePuy Orthopaedics, Smith & Nephew Orthopaedics, Stryker, Wright Medical Technology and Zimmer, Inc.

Established in 1991, the AAHKS (http://www.aahks.org) is comprised of 800-plus members in the U.S. and Canada who are Board-certified orthopaedic surgeons with specialized training in hip and knee replacement surgery. Based in Park Ridge, Ill., the not-for-profit association provides current educational, research and communication opportunities for the membership and their patients to allow continued quality management of degenerative disorders of the hip and knee.