"Thank you, Director Liu, for healing my son's knee. I'm really afraid he won't be able to walk for the rest of his life. In the consultation room of Professor Liu Anqing, the leader of the Department of Orthopedics of Shenzhen Hengsheng Hospital, there is an endless stream of patients who come to visit, re-examine and thank him.
Professor Liu Anqing has served as the leader of the national key discipline and the second people's orthopedic department of Shenzhen, he is good at the treatment of joints, limb trauma and congenital hip dislocation, and has completed more than 400 hip, knee and shoulder joint replacement and revision surgeries by him every year, and has completed more than 5,000 artificial joint replacements for many years. In 2023, after Professor Liu Anqing was hired as the head of the Department of Orthopedics at Shenzhen Hang Seng Hospital, the joint replacement surgery performed on Xiao Qi (pseudonym) was one of the nearly 100 surgeries he completed in Hang Seng Hospital.
△Director Liu Anqing led the team to perform joint replacement surgery on the patient
01. If you are old ≠ can't walk, joint replacement can improve your quality of life
In the 90s of the 20th century, the surgery of bone and joint replacement began to enter China, in order to learn and specialize in this technology that can help patients "reborn", Liu Anqing successively went to Shanghai Sixth Hospital, Taipei Veterans General Hospital for further study, and went to the United States, Britain, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea and other countries to participate in academic conferences and exchanges.
△In 2019, Professor Liu (second from right) studied robot-assisted hip replacement surgery in the United States
"In the past, everyone thought that it was normal for middle-aged and elderly people in their fifties and sixties to have inconvenient legs and feet, but not being able to walk greatly affected the quality of life." Liu Anqing said that as an orthopedic joint doctor, the patient has joint problems, and must first consider the "knee and hip protection" treatment, only when the conservative treatment has no obvious effect on the patient, artificial joint replacement surgery has become the only effective treatment method, will consider improving the patient's quality of life through replacement, and restoring the patient's exercise ability.
Among the patients who asked Professor Liu Anqing for joint replacement, there were many elderly people in their 90s. Before the operation, a 96-year-old man's knee joint was very swollen and painful, and he could only use a wheelchair. The old man's family found Professor Liu Anqing and asked him to help replace the joints. After the joint was replaced, the old man's leg was swollen and painless, and he regained a certain degree of mobility.
△ Patients and their families presented pennants to Professor Liu Anqing
"The main age group of joint replacement patients is between 50 and 90 years old, with the most patients around 70 years old. Whether or not to change joints over 90 years old depends on the requirements for quality of life. Professor Liu Anqing said. When it comes to joint replacement surgery, many patients will have two worries: one is worried about whether there will be sequelae such as walking pain, joint infection, and even paralysis after treatment; The second is the fear of spending more money. In fact, with the development of joint replacement technology in the past 20 years, it has been very safe and standardized; In addition, with the inclusion of artificial joints in the medical insurance centralized procurement, the economic pressure has also been greatly alleviated. At present, joint replacement surgery has become an important way to improve the quality of life of the elderly.
02, 2 hours standard, he only needs 40 minutes
Up to now, Professor Liu Anqing has completed more than 5,000 joint replacement surgeries, making him one of the doctors who have completed the most joint replacement surgeries in Shenzhen. Professor Liu Anqing's surgery has a characteristic: it is accurate and fast. Other doctors take two or three hours to complete a joint replacement operation, but he only needs thirty or forty minutes. According to his peers, he has always been able to turn a very complex major surgery into a standardized and programmed operation.
Xiaoqi's mother found Professor Liu Anqing on the recommendation of other doctors. Xiaoqi was injured in a fall on a bicycle and fractured the epiphysis of his left femoral head. Three months after the closed reduction and fixation surgery in his hometown, Xiaoqi's left hip pain gradually worsened, he could not squat, and it became more and more difficult to walk. Originally lively and cheerful and fond of sports, he could not bear the pain in his joints and could only sit and lie down. Gradually, Xiao Qi had a hard time even sitting up and was forced to suspend school. At the local provincial hospital, Xiao Qi was diagnosed with avascular necrosis of the left femoral head, and the doctor hoped to get Xiao Qi back to walking through two hip-saving surgeries, but the results were not satisfactory. In desperation, the expert proposed an "artificial joint replacement" plan, and recommended Xiaoqi's mother to contact Professor Liu Anqing, an authoritative expert in the national key discipline (orthopedics and joints). Xiaoqi's surgery went smoothly and took only 40 minutes. On the second day after the operation, Xiaoqi was able to practice walking.
△Prof. Liu (second from right) has a case discussion with the team
In just one hour of Professor Liu Anqing's visit, patients from Foshan, Dongguan and Shenzhen came to see Professor Liu Anqing one after another, and everyone said that "it is safe to see him". Behind this heavy trust is Professor Liu Anqing's decades of painstaking research in technology and his original intention to help more patients regain their freedom of movement. In Liu Anqing's view, "bone and joint surgery is not only a technique, but also an art, and doctors need to have a meticulous and precise craftsman temperament." Joint replacement surgery, for example, requires a series of meticulous processes to integrate the artificial joints with the patient's own body to restore the normal function of the human body. ”
03. Professor Liu Anqing reminded: joints should be "saved"
As an orthopedic surgeon, especially a joint specialist, Professor Liu Anqing does not recommend running marathons: "People over 45 years old should try to run as little as possible, and don't climb mountains for exercise. He pointed out that the pressure on the knee joint during running is several times that of normal walking, which can cause damage to the cartilage of the knee joint, which can damage the use of the knee joint. Joints have a lifespan, so it is necessary to 'save some use'. Professor Liu Anqing believes that the best way to exercise is brisk walking. The knee joints need to be 'cushioned' by cartilage, and there are no nerves on the cartilage, but there are bones, so if the cartilage between the joints is 'grinded' due to excessive exercise, and the two bones rub directly, it will be very painful and need treatment. Professor Liu Anqing explained.
So how can citizens quickly determine whether they have knee problems at home? Professor Liu Anqing said that if you stand straight and your knees are together, if you don't close them, it may indicate that there is a problem with your knees. Professor Liu reminded that "knee cartilage wear and calcification is a degenerative disease, which cannot be avoided when we are old, and the key is to pay attention to maintenance when we are young." ”
As the leader of the Department of Orthopedics at Shenzhen Hang Seng Hospital, Professor Liu Anqing also undertakes the teaching of the department and the task of mentoring young doctors, in addition to expert outpatient clinics and daily surgeries every Monday afternoon. "I want to standardize and program joint replacement surgery at Shenzhen Hang Seng Hospital, so that future young doctors can also provide high-quality services to patients. The department also regularly opens a health lecture hall to popularize the common sense of joint maintenance to patients. I hope to lead the orthopaedic team of Hang Seng Hospital to help more patients get back on their feet, move and have a higher quality of life. ”