Making the Rounds with Dr. David Landy

For this week’s Making the Rounds, we interviewed David C. Landy, MD, PhD, an orthopaedic surgeon with UK Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine. Dr. Landy is also a professor in the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine, specializing in hip and knee replacement as well as revisions of hip and knee replacements. 

We recently chatted with Dr. Landy about the types of patients he sees, what makes UK Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine stand out and the most rewarding part of his job.

What types of patients do you see?

Most of my patients tend to be older patients with arthritis who have sort of failed non-operative management strategies and not gotten the kind of quality-of-life improvement they're looking for – and so replacing either their hip or knee is now a consideration. 

Occasionally, we will treat some younger patients who maybe have post-traumatic arthritis at an early age, or who have dysplastic type abnormal anatomy changes that lead them to consider arthroplasty earlier. 

Why is academic medicine a great place to do what you do?

Being at an academic center, we're high volume. We do a lot of these things and we do them repetitively. It allows the staff and the infrastructure to be in place to take care of people well, and on the off chance that there are complications, we're prepared to handle those here. 

It's also nice to work here in…a research center, so we're able to study the things that we're doing and apply what we're learning to patient care. 

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

I think our role is to explain what the benefits and risks of surgery are, and then help that patient contextualize those in their own life so they can make the best decision. Again, we see a lot of older patients here and some patients who have medical comorbidities, and helping them work through, well how do the risk of surgery apply to you, and then what are the expected benefits? 

A lot of people assume, oh just because I'm older, I'm going to have to deal with not really being able to move my hip, and that's not necessarily the case. 

Not everyone is a good candidate, but helping people work through that and come to the best decision for them is the most rewarding part of what I do. 

Watch our full interview with Dr. Landy.