Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush hip and knee replacement and reconstruction specialist Dr. Craig Della Valle was featured on ABC 7 news discussing the benefits of a national implant registry. Advocates of the implementation of a national registry believe that it would be useful in not only locating patients and physicians that perform the surgeries, but also to track the reliability of the implants used.

"I think it will give us a very good ability to educate patients about how long these devices last and what their individual risk is," stated Dr. Della Valle. "We learn very valuable things by following patients over time."

National implant registries have already been implemented in countries such as Sweden and Australia. Recently a privately-funded registry, the American Joint Replacement Registry, has been established and aims to become the national registry. Rush University Medical Center plans to be one of 15 hospitals nationwide to be included in the pilot program.

To watch the full interview please visit: abclocal.go.com