BOLINGBROOK – Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gregory Markarian will host about 15 doctors from Brazil at Bolingbrook Adventist Hospital March 20, teaching them a surgical technique to preserve, rather than replace, a patient's knee.
The visitng doctors will oversee Markarian's five scheduled March 20 surgeries. Brazil is in the process of granting medical approval to the technology that makes Markarian's Arthrosurface approach possible, and he is teaching those doctors how to use it in advance of that approval.
"The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons is meeting the third week of March, so the timing is very good that this will soon be approved by Brazil," Markarian said. "All their top doctors are coming March 20 to Bolingbrook to observe and learn."
As a follow-up, Markarian plans to later travel to Brazil to work with the doctors again.
"I'm going to go down and help them with their initial cases and teach them down there," Markarian said. "This is pretty involved and can't really be learned in one setting.
The Arthrosurface approach allows physicians to place small implants into small defects in knee cartilage, making it smooth again.
"The technology allows you to do that by going after smaller defects that eventually become bigger," Markarian said.
A diplomat with the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons, Markarian previously served as a consultant to the National Football League's Miami Dolphins for seven years. He was also head team physician for the XFL's Chicago Enforcers. He's a 1987 graduate of the University of Michigan and received his medical degree from Northwestern University in 1991.