INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business
INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business
INNOVATORS Gold Award - New Orleans City Business
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MEDICAL<br />
PHOTO BY FRANK AYMAMI<br />
Dr. James Laborde, an orthopaedic surgeon with Orthopaedic Associates of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong>, has pioneered a procedure to lengthen tendons in the foot to heal ulcers.<br />
Orthopaedic Associates<br />
of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong><br />
Key innovation: lengthening tendons to heal foot ulcers<br />
Biggest clients: diabetic patients.<br />
Where they’re based: <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong><br />
Top executive: Dr. James Laborde, Dr. Lance Estrada<br />
and Dr. Kevin Watson, partners<br />
Year introduced: 1995<br />
IMAGINE BEING A diabetic patient with chronic foot<br />
ulcers who is told that your foot or leg must be amputated.<br />
Then imagine your relief when another doctor tells you an<br />
outpatient procedure may help prevent an amputation.<br />
In the United States, more than 80,000 amputations<br />
are performed each year on diabetic patients and 85 percent<br />
of them are because of foot ulcers, according to an<br />
American Foot and Ankle Society study. If foot ulcers<br />
could be eliminated, most of these amputations could be<br />
prevented.<br />
Dr. James Laborde, an orthopaedic surgeon with<br />
Orthopaedic Associates of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong>, has pioneered a<br />
procedure where patients with chronic foot ulcers can<br />
have surgery to lengthen their tendons, which in turn can<br />
heal the ulcers.<br />
“In 1995 I was doing tendon lengthening in children<br />
with cerebral palsy,” Laborde said. “One child got an ulcer,<br />
and after the surgery the ulcer went away. I had another<br />
patient with diabetes who got an ulcer and was sent to<br />
wound care. One year later the patient was told they needed<br />
an amputation. I did tendon lengthening and the patient did<br />
not need the amputation.”<br />
Laborde said the popular opinion is that poor circulation<br />
causes foot ulcers.<br />
“Ulcers are really caused by nerve damage, a tightness of<br />
the tendons, and lack of feeling, not circulation problems,”<br />
Laborde said.<br />
According to the Orthopaedic Association of <strong>New</strong><br />
<strong>Orleans</strong>’ Web site, www.footulcer.info, ulcers are caused by<br />
pressure on the forefoot.<br />
For toe ulcers, Laborde performs a 15-minute office procedure<br />
to surgically lengthen the flexor tendons on the toe.<br />
For ulcers on the ball of the foot, there is a 45-minute outpatient<br />
procedure that lengthens the heel cord. There is also a<br />
one-hour procedure to lengthen the calf muscle, in which<br />
the patient is able to walk immediately after the surgery.<br />
“It’s been very gratifying to see that the patients realize it<br />
works,” Laborde said.<br />
He stressed that most ulcers can be prevented if diabetics<br />
are told by their physician to stretch their calf tendons for<br />
several minutes every day.•<br />
— Lisa Bacques<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Orleans</strong> <strong>City</strong><strong>Business</strong> 39A