Canceled surgeries have been a problem for patients around the country.
Hurricane Helene flooded a North Carolina factory that was making 60% of the national supply of IV fluids, which are used routinely during many surgeries and procedures.
But Athrex, based in Naples, has been several steps ahead.
There's a type of technology being used here locally that not only allows surgeons to keep scheduled surgeries on their calendar but also gives patients a shorter recovery time.
"So I had a pretty catastrophic injury. I broke my leg, and so I went right into emergency surgery, and Dr. Wallace put a, I had a rod put in my leg along with pins. And so that was about three years ago," said Stacy Hall.
About a year and a half later, Hall had to go back in for surgery.
"I was experiencing some swelling and pain, and I just wasn't able to be as active as I had before my start, before my initial injury," she said.
So, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brian Wallace with the Joint Replacement Institute in Naples performed a procedure using a nanoneedle.
"The idea behind the nanoscope is to really shrink down that technology," Wallace said. "Make everything smaller, less invasive, with the hope of being quicker in terms of recovery. And that's what we've seen."
Part of the reason for the faster recovery time is that the doctors aren't filling the joints with as much saline as they would with traditional arthroscopic surgery.
Ryan Keller, senior product manager for Arthrex, said, "We're putting a lot less fluid through the joint with a typical arthroscopy. The amount of fluid that comes through that larger cannula tends to fill up the joint, where with the needle, less fluid goes through less pain afterward."
Less fluid means less swelling afterward as well, which translates into getting back on your feet faster.
Hall said, "So one of the great things about it, surprisingly, is that there was minimal swelling, very little need for any type of pain management afterwards. So it was a very easy surgery to recover from."
But now, with the shortage of IV saline, doctors who use nanotechnology don't have to cancel surgeries.
"So by reducing the size of incision or no incision at all through the needle camera and the needle instrument, you're able to treat that patient similar to what you would do with conventional tools while reducing the saline. So reducing the, installation or distension in the joint which is causing a post-operative you know, reduction in swelling and pain, so that that patient is getting back to their daily life or even on the field faster," Wallace said.
So regardless of what happens with the IV fluid shortage, Stacy recommends you talk to your doctor about the nanoneedle and if it's the right procedure for you.
"Absolutely no regrets. I think it's an amazing, opportunity to kind of be on the cusp of new technology. And it's something that I've actually recommended to colleagues that have, had to undergo surgery is to ask their doctor if they utilize this type of technology because of the success that I had with it," Hall said.