Osseointegration: From physical limitation to boundless freedom

Yes, this is a safe treatment. Since 2009, surgeon Dr. Jan Paul Frölke and rehabilitation physician Dr. Henk van de Meent and their research team from Radboudumc Nijmegen have followed all patients treated with an osseointegration prosthesis in collaboration with other major centers in the world. They not only investigated the advantages of this treatment, but also mapped out the disadvantages and possible complications. Initially it was thought that the implant would lead to infection of the bone and loosening of the implant. Research published in American international scientific journals showed that the risk of loosening is very small in the first 84 patients with an osseointegration prosthesis. In 1 patient the implant became detached and had to be replaced. Follow-up studies confirmed this, but more than two-thirds of people were found to have regular stoma irritation and infections. Especially in people who smoke and in people with a high body weight. However, the stoma complaints were easy to treat and are often transient. Due to recently developed new surgical techniques, stoma problems are still rare and the complaints are less. We now see stoma complaints mainly in the first two years after surgery.