July 25, 2025
Denver Health's world-renowned Level One Trauma Center is known for being the place you want to go if you're in a serious car accident, but there's one thing that retired orthopedic surgeon Mike Mycoskie knows.
"You can hurt yourself in your house bad enough to need a Trauma Center," he said. Mycoskie found that out first-hand in June, when the 75-year-old fell off a ladder while trying to get into the attic in his home. He broke his pelvis.
Mycoskie was rushed to a hospital near his home outside Vail, where doctors in the emergency department examined him, had X-rays taken and from there, determined he would need a higher level of care from a team that is experienced in treating pelvic fractures. They recommended he be transferred to Denver Health, for its orthopedic trauma care within Denver's only Orthopedic Center of Excellence, known for treating on average, 150 pelvic fractures per year.
Experts in Treating Pelvic Fractures
"Mike had a very unusual type of pelvic fracture at the back of his pelvis, with a spine that was fused," according to Cyril Mauffrey, MD, Chair of the Denver Health Orthopedic Center of Excellence and the surgeon who operated on Mycoskie. "It was a fracture in a very specific plane that makes it highly unstable and hard to stabilize." The unusual injury was a first for Dr. Mauffrey, who is looked to internationally as an expert in treating pelvic fractures.
CT Navigation to Treat Traumatic Injuries
In this case, he made use of a fairly new technology in treating traumatic injuries - CT navigation, which allows cameras to tell the surgeon where his/her hand is in a three-dimensional space, so that they can send screws or wires inside the body safely, knowing at any given time where the screw or wire is going into the patient's body.
Easing Pain from Pelvic Fracture
Mycoskie, who was in agonizing pain immediately after the injury, said that the surgery worked. "So far so good. So far, really good. I basically haven't taken anything much stronger than Tylenol since this happened."
"The way to reduce the pain is to reduce the motion at the fracture and as soon as you place a large screw or a nail or plate and screws, then the pieces of bone that previously were moving are no longer moving, and that in itself helps patients recover from that pain pretty immediately," Dr. Mauffrey explained. "I think we're pretty good at treating pelvic fractures because we see a lot of these." The surgery is described as "fairly mini invasive" making use of tiny keyholes in the body to insert the screws and wires.
A little over one month after his surgery and the former surgeon-turned patient is singing the praises of Denver Health. "The care that I received, is as good as you're going to get any place, I mean, it was phenomenal," Mycoskie said. "I am very, very happy. They have a really good group here at Denver Health."
