Orthopaedics
Susan Bukata, MD
Dr. Susan Bukata is a bone sleuth. As Clinical Director of the Center for Bone Health at the University of Rochester Medical Center, she seeks clues as to what causes bone dysfunction, and her findings could change the way orthopaedists look at musculoskeletal problems.
A nationally recognized expert on diseases that contribute to bone fragility, Dr. Bukata cares for patients of all ages with osteoporosis, osteopenia, osteogenesis imperfecta, cancer and low vitamin D. Her approach is to define the totality of factors that cause bone problems, and investigate new treatments to improve or prevent them. "What we're trying to accomplish here is taking care of the overall bone–looking at the birth-to-death diseases of the skeleton," she says. "By looking at a problem medically and not just surgically, we can find new ways to make patients more functional and comfortable less invasively."
Dr. Bukata is one of a handful of orthopaedists in the country who specialize in all three areas of orthopedic surgery, musculoskeletal oncology and metabolic bone disease. Her highly specialized experience has led to the establishment of the Center for Bone Health at the University of Rochester Medical Center—the only center of its kind in the country. The Center takes on the more complex cases-patients with cancer and other diseases, repeated fracturing, low bone mass, and whose bone healing won't respond to standard therapies. Factors that affect bone health—genetics, nutritional deficiency, the affects of non-related medications, and metabolic processes such as the thyroid-all come under Dr. Bukata's purview.
"We ask questions that are not traditionally orthopaedic, such as what is your vitamin D level, or do you have a thyroid problem—things that usually would be addressed by an endocrinologist," Dr. Bukata says. "We are taking that extra step to address the root cause of the problem, not just the fracture. That's a unique spin that other specialists in the country haven't adopted yet."
Dr. Bukata's research into metabolic treatment is promising. Her work with Forteo™, a parathyroid hormone, is currently undergoing clinical trials funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Forteo™ had been previously used to expedite normal healing from sports injuries. But Dr. Bukata's team was the first in the country to use it in patients whose bones couldn't heal. The team administered Forteo™ to wheelchair-bound patients with pelvic fractures and severe osteoporosis. The results were stunning. Within 4-6 weeks, they were using walkers. And over the next three months, their fractures healed completely.
By viewing bones across their lifespan, from a variety of medical perspectives, Dr. Bukata is on the verge of being able to make major changes in the treatment of bone disease and fracturing. "We have the ability here to change the standards nationally on how we address some of these issues." Dr. Bukata says. "Finding new ways to give people a functional, pain-free life for as long as possible—that's the goal, whether you're a kid with cancer or a geriatric patient in your 90s."
An Assistant Professor of Orthopedics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Dr. Bukata received her M.D. from Columbia University, and her B.A. in Arts and Sciences from Harvard University. She was awarded a fellowship in Orthopaedic Oncology and Metabolic Bone Disease at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Hospital for Special Surgery, in addition to an Orthopaedic Research Fellowship at The University of Rochester. She has received numerous grants and awards, including the University of Rochester's Louis Goldstein Career Development Research Grant and a Columbia University Alumni Association Bronze Medal.