Department of Orthopedic Surgery

Head of the Office: Tetsuya Jinnno MD, PhD

Message from the Head of the Department

     Thank you for visiting the website of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center. This department was established in 1984 when Dokkyo Medical University Koshigaya Hospital opened (Professor Yutaka Igarashi), succeeded by Professor Yutaka Nohara (1991-), and Professor Satoru Ozeki (2007-). In 2018, the Second Department of Orthopedic Surgery was established and I was appointed as the chief professor. In 2021, the 1st and 2nd departments were integrated into the Department of Orthopedic Surgery, which continues to this day.
     As the orthopedics department of the largest hospital in the eastern part of Saitama Prefecture and the orthopedics department of a university hospital, we believe that our role is to safely provide advanced medical care for a wide range of musculoskeletal diseases and injuries, from children to the very elderly. To this end, we have appointed board-certified specialists to each of our specialized groups such as the hip joint, knee joint, ankle joint and foot, spine, upper limb, trauma, and pediatrics, and we work energetically in cooperation with each other. For the particularly specialized fields, such as the bone and soft tissue tumors, part-time specialists from Saitama and Tokyo are also available.
     Academic activities and education are two essential pillars for providing these specialized treatments sustainably. As a university hospital, we will disseminate research results from each specialized group both domestically and internationally that contribute to the advancement of medicine and continue to train orthopedic specialists who combine humanity and academic qualifications through our comprehensive specialist training program, thereby fulfilling our responsibility to provide regional medical care in the future. In 2021, we renewed our specialized training program, and the number of affiliated residents has increased by more than five times. In response to this, we have been approved to double the number of resident doctors in our training program from 2025.
     Based on our center's philosophy of "always studying hard and living up to the trust of our patients," all staff members work together every day to provide medical care, research, and education. We look forward to see you at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center.

Department of Orthopedic Surgery
Head of the Office: Tetsuya Jinno MD, PhD

Activities

     Orthopedic surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses primarily on the functional improvement of the musculoskeletal system from the neck down. The musculoskeletal system includes the bones, joints, and other skeletal structures that form the core of the body, as well as the muscles that surround them and the nervous system that controls them.
     The Department is divided into groups of hip, knee, foot and ankle surgery, spine, pediatric orthopedics, sports orthopedics, and trauma to enhance our expertise while collaborating with each other to ensure a high level of care and research.

Education

     Dokkyo Medical University Saitama Medical Center has affiliated hospitals that form the core of the eastern Saitama region and can provide a stable program for becoming a competent orthopedic surgeon. Most of the training hospitals are core hospitals in the region, and there are many facilities with abundant surgical cases. At the end of the training, all trainees will acquire sufficient training to become a Japanese board-certified orthopedic surgeon.

Research Field

  • Various prospective and retrospective clinical studies on surgical treatment, conservative treatment and rehabilitation in hip and knee joints are ongoing in collaboration with the Department of Orthopedic surgery and Rehabilitation, Institute of Science Tokyo.
  • Leading a nationwide epidemiological study on femoroacetabular impingement (FAI).
  • Involved in the development and revision of guidelines for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the hip as a co-chairperson.
  • Participating in the designated intractable disease research group for idiopathic osteonecrosis of the femoral head and am involved in the formulation of medical practice guidelines.
  • Developing artificial hip joints suitable for minimally invasive surgery in collaboration with the U.S. and Europe, and applying them clinically.
  • Conducting dynamic analysis of knee joint prostheses in collaboration with other centers in the U.S. and Japan to improve implant design and surgical techniques to achieve better outcomes.
  • Developing and clinically applying knee prostheses for Japanese patients in collaboration with industry and academia.
  • Basic research on the basic structure and biomechanics of the normal ankle joint.
  • Basic research on the pathophysiology and epidemiology of ankle osteoarthritis, and clinical research on conservative treatment (orthotics, plantar plates) and surgical treatment (artificial joints, osteotomies, arthroscopic surgery, etc.).
  • Elucidate the pathophysiology of tarsal tunnel syndrome and subtalar joint instability, and to establish treatment methods, through clinical research on residual disorders after ankle sprains.

Academic Society Activities

  • The Japanese Orthopedic Association
  • The Japanese Hip Society
  • The Japanese Knee Society
  • The Japanese Society For Spine Surgery And Related Research
  • Japanese Society for Surgery of the Hand
  • The Japanese Society for Surgery of the Foot
  • The Japanese Pediatric Orthopedic Association

Faculty

Professor Tetsuya Jinno, MD, PhD
Associate Professor Toshufumi Watanabe, MD, PhD
Associate Professor Hiroyuki Inose, MD, PhD
Associate Professor Hiroki Katagiri, MD, PhD
Associate Professor Junnya Katayanagi, MD, PhD
Associate Professor Masataka Kakihana, MD, PhD
Senior Assistant Professor Ichiro Sugimoto, MD
Senior Assistant Professor Gaku Koyano, MD, PhD
Senior Assistant Professor Mikio Shioda, MD, PhD
Senior Assistant Professor Tetsuya Tachbana, MD, PhD
Senior Assistant Professor Hiroki Konuma, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor Hiroyuki Yokoyama, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor Hisato Higashikawa, MD
Assistant Professor Yuri Nagatuka, MD
Assistant Professor Moe Suzuki, MD
Assistant Professor Tukasa Yanase, MD
Assistant Professor Yoshiki Tayama, MD
Assistant Professor Kazuho Higuchi, MD

Characteristics of the section

1. Hip Surgery
     Total hip arthroplasty uses various entry methods, such as anterior and posterior entry, depending on the condition of the disease, to achieve optimal joint reconstruction. In the case of a normal initial replacement, minimally invasive surgery with no muscle dissection is performed immediately after the surgery, with the aim of achieving a "forgotten joint" (a joint that one is not conscious of in any way) as soon as possible. We have about 20 years of experience in bilateral primary total hip arthroplasty for bilateral indications, and have achieved good results not only in pain relief but also in improvement of range of motion.
     For dysplastic hip joints and osteonecrosis of the femoral head in young patients including children, we try to preserve the joint as much as possible by performing various osteotomies (acetabular rotational osteotomy, Chiari pelvic osteotomy, corrective femoral osteotomy, etc.).
     From FY2023, we have also started hip arthroscopy for hip labral injuries and femoroacetabular impingement (FAI).

2. Knee Surgery
     We provide medical care and surgery for knee diseases, focusing on artificial knee joint replacement, high tibial osteotomy, and specoscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. In addition to artificial knee joint replacement and around knee osteotomy for osteoarthritis of the knee, which is increasing with the aging of the population, we also provide arthroscopic surgery including sports injuries.
     Currently, there are many surgical treatment options for knee osteoarthritis, but patient needs are diversifying, and a one-size-fits-all surgical approach may not be sufficient to meet their needs. We are now offering semi-order made surgical treatment for osteoarthritis of the knee, which includes knee arthroplasty (TKA/UKA), around knee osteotomy (high tibial osteotomy, distal femoral osteotomy, double level osteotomy, etc.) according to ADL, symptoms, and patient needs, not only according to the imaging findings. Our goal is to provide semi-order made knee osteoarthritis treatment. In some cases, conservative treatment may be recommended. Conservative therapies such as pain point stretching, which is effective for pain outside the knee joint, were introduced several times on NHK's “Tameshite Gatten” program.
      Autologous synovial stem cells are derived from the patient's own synovial membrane, which is extracted, cultured, and grown outside the body. Autologous synovial stem cell injection is a regenerative medicine in which these cultured cells are injected into the joint to promote cartilage regeneration, and is expected to improve knee osteoarthritis pain and prevent its progression. PRP (platelet-rich plasma) therapy is a regenerative medicine that uses the tissue repair ability of platelet growth factors found in our own blood to enhance our innate “healing power” and aims to cure the disease.

3. Foot and Ankle Surgery
        We treat diseases and injuries of the musculoskeletal system that cause deformity, pain, and instability in the ankle joint and toes. Our treatment options range from specialized conservative therapy using custom-made insoles and orthotics to minimally invasive arthroscopic surgery, joint-sparing surgery using ligament reconstruction and corrective osteotomies, artificial joint replacement, and joint fusion surgery. In addition, we do not focus only on foot lesions, but also cooperate with hip, knee, and spine specialty groups to improve overall gait function.

4. Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery
     This field specializes in the entire upper extremity, from the shoulder down, the arm, elbow, wrist, and fingers. The hand is intimately involved in human behavior and is one of the most delicate structures in the complex human body. Hand surgery is a specialty that deals with diseases and injuries related to the hand, which has such a complex structure. We provide medical care under the supervision of a specialist of the Japanese Society of Hand Surgery. A hand surgery specialist is a qualification that can be obtained by a physician who has acquired a medical specialty in orthopedic surgery or plastic surgery and then has several years of experience in specialized treatment of hand surgery. We also provide rehabilitation services as needed, with or without surgery. We have hand therapists certified by the Japanese Society of Hand Therapy to provide specialized hand rehabilitation services.

5. Spine Surgery
     The Department of Spine and Spinal Cord Surgery is staffed by board-certified spine surgeons and deals with a wide range of spine and spinal cord diseases and traumas from the cervical spine to the sacral spine. We focus on spinal canal enlargement for scoliosis, spinal fusion using decompression and instrumentation for degenerative diseases, corrective fusion for scoliosis, and bracing and corrective fusion for kyphosis due to osteoporotic vertebral fractures. We are particularly active in the surgical correction of scoliosis deformities, treating a wide range of deformities from schoolchildren and adolescents to middle-aged and elderly patients. For patients with scoliosis who are still growing, we actively perform growth-preserving surgery (growing rod method) that does not interfere with the growth of the patient's height. The Department also performs corrective surgery for patients with spinal deformity to achieve good alignment (spine shape), and has introduced corrective fixation surgery that preserves lumbar pelvic mobility in consideration of postoperative activities of daily living (ADL) to achieve higher levels of treatment satisfaction. We are also actively engaged in minimally invasive spine surgeries such as disc enzyme injection therapy (Hernicoa) for herniated discs, minimally invasive endoscopic surgery, and BKP (balloon kyphoplasty) for vertebral fractures with residual pain and instability, which have attracted much attention in recent years.

6. Sports Orthopedics
     We deal with sports disorders of each group with a focus on the knee joint group. Dr. Katayanagi and Dr. Yanase of this department will participate in the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games as judo sports physicians.

7. Pediatric Orthopedics
      Pediatric orthopedics is not a smaller version of general orthopedics for adults, but rather a specialized treatment system that treats the entire body, as it has different anatomical structures and diseases from those of adults due to growth and development, and requires a different specialized treatment system than orthopedics for adults. The Pediatric Orthopedics Group collaborates with other groups in the practice and clinical research.

8. Trauma
      The Emergency Center also has an orthopedic staff that treats severe trauma in collaboration with each specialized medical team. We provide treatment for multiple traumas and open fractures, mainly in tertiary emergency cases. We also have many cases of pelvic fractures. For open fractures of the extremities, we apply external fixators and focus on functional reconstruction.