After years of being turned away by doctors, a patient regains his stride at Mount Sinai with a successful ankle replacement.

Since his youth, James Murphy has experienced persistent foot problems. In 1979, he underwent a triple arthrodesis on his left foot, followed by the same procedure on his right foot a year later. For more than 20 years, everything was fine. However, around 2003, James’ ankle began causing increasing pain.

Although originally from Taunton, Massachusetts, James relocated to South Florida at the age of 20. Over the years, he sought assistance from various orthopedics and podiatrists in both the South Florida area and New York City. Unfortunately, every doctor delivered the same discouraging news—there wasn’t much they could do for his feet. The consistent diagnosis was the need for an ankle fusion, complicated by the prior triple arthrodesis. The only pain management option suggested was to insert a nail through the tibia, resulting in no motion in the ankle. The answer to his problem became increasingly bleak.

However, one day by chance, James’ wife, a hairdresser, happened to come across the solution her husband had been looking for years. While tending to a client, she mentioned that her sibling had recently undergone a successful ankle replacement. The treating doctor was none other than Dr. Ettore Vulcano, Chief, Division of Orthopedic Surgery.

“I made an appointment with Dr. Vulcano,” James continues. “He did some X-rays on my foot and said, ‘It’s a mess, but I can do a replacement.’ He told me flat out from the get-go that it may not be a ‘one and done’ fusion, that he may have to go back in and do other procedures. And I agreed to do it.”

After completing James’ first ankle replacement, Dr. Vulcano performed two more operations. After three full procedures, Dr. Vulcano was able to put James’ ankle back together. In detail, Dr. Vulcano explains that James had a severe ankle deformity and arthritis. To properly diagnose his condition, Dr. Vulcano made sure to obtain a clear image of his foot before making any decisions.

“I did an ankle replacement surgery utilizing custom-made 3D printed instrumentation based on a special CT scan we have at Sinai,” he explains. “I also corrected the foot alignment with minimally invasive surgery to ensure increased longevity of the ankle replacement and improvement of pain and gait.”

Today, James has no pain in the ankle and only some occasional pain in the heel. Other than that, James has no complaints and is better than what he expected. He credits Dr. Vulcano and his care team to helping him fix his problem and thanks the anesthesia team for their part in his operations.

“The anesthesia department at Mount Sinai is the best that I have ever seen. They are unbelievable. They operated on me three times down there and they did nerve blocks all three times. They were just amazing. They’re very professional; they know what they’re doing.”