UPMC Doctor Performs Unique Surgery On Zoo's MonkeyPOSTED: 4:20 pm EDT June 13,
2007 PITTSBURGH -- The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's best-known sports doctor is used to treating players from the Steelers and the Penguins, but now he has his hands full with a monkey.Dr. Freddy Fu operated on a mandrill monkey at the Pittsburgh Zoo. It was a first-ever procedure that could help humans as well.Recently, zookeepers noticed the 11-year-old monkey in the rainforest exhibit pointing to his knee in pain. That's when the vet called Fu, the top doctor in orthopedic surgery at UPMC.Fu normally handles knee injuries for the top athletes in town. He said the monkey partially tore its ACL.According to Fu, the monkey has three bundles of tissues in his knee. Not all humans do, but there are rare cases, Fu said, where doctors might miss them simply because every ACL surgery is pretty much treated the same way."As doctors, like myself, I want to get better outcome for the patients," Fu said. "And I know that ACL surgeries are quite good, but there's still a big room for improvement."In this case, the removal of some inflamed tissue could do the trick to relieving some pain.At this point, there's still no telling when the monkey will be back inside the exhibit with the rest of his friends. He is still recovering. Related Links: More County NewsGet RSS | E-Mail Alerts Copyright 2007 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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