Holland Bone and Joint Program Report 2025

Patients recovering from total hip replacements often wonder how quickly – if ever – they can return to the activities they love. For the first time, Sunnybrook researchers have answers.

Over the course of 10 years, the research team tracked 1,100 patients to evaluate the impact of various sports and movements on surgical outcomes.

“Historically, we haven’t had much data to advise patients when they ask, ‘Can I ski?’ ‘Can I play tennis?’” says Dr. Harman Chaudhry, arthroplasty surgeon at the Holland Centre.

“Now we know whether it’s safe or not. Clinicians can advise and empower patients to assess what activities they can do without affecting joint replacements.”

Dr. Chaudhry and his colleagues produced an interactive data set breaking down variations across sex, age and body mass. Their study is now published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Funds from the Marvin Tile Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery support four researchers, including surgeon Dr. Daniel Pincus. As the Tile Chair, Dr. Albert Yee champions the mandate to recruit and retain internationally competitive clinicians, clinician-researchers and scientists in pursuit of field- leading advances.

This past year, Dr. Pincus explored a variety of factors affecting the success of hip and knee replacements.

As part of a population-based study co-led with orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Bheeshma Ravi, Dr. Pincus assessed the influence of surgical practices on early major complication rates following total hip replacement, finding significant variation across hospitals in Ontario.

By establishing benchmarking reports, the researchers hope to enable hospitals and surgeons to implement best practices.

Meaghan O’Reilly, PhD, senior scientist in the Holland Bone and Joint Program, was invited to write an article about the use of focused ultrasound for non-invasive therapies in Science, one of the world’s top academic journals.

Dr. O’Reilly reviewed recent advances in clinical applications of focused ultrasound for purposes as varied as drug delivery, immune activation and targeted treatment.

Her own research continues to develop systems and methods to deliver, monitor and control focused ultrasound therapy, with a focus on applications in the spine.

“Dr. O’Reilly is a star of focused ultrasound worldwide,” says Program Research Director Cari Whyne, PhD, adding that Dr. O’Reilly started her Sunnybrook career as a summer student in Dr. Whyne’s lab and they continue to collaborate as scientific colleagues.

Many people take probiotic supplements to enhance the “good” bacteria in their gut. Dr. Diane Nam, Sunnybrook scientist and orthopaedic surgeon, discovered that probiotics have a healing effect on bone fractures as well. Fractures can have notoriously lengthy healing periods, impeding function and productivity.

With a background in osteoimmunology, Dr. Nam and her team demonstrated that a healthy gut flora microenvironment can positively affect musculoskeletal healing, which was confirmed in recent findings published in PLoS One.

Taking oral probiotics before or after a fracture may lead to improved bone healing, providing a cost- effective, low-risk treatment strategy.

Probiotic use before fractures showed particularly strong results, suggesting that older individuals who are at high risk of fracture might consider proactively building their immune systems.

Dr. Nam’s most recent research on the topic has shown similar benefits in the healing of pelvic fragility fractures.

Competition is fierce for Canadian research grants, many of which require proof-of-concept data to qualify for an award.

To gather early stage data, Holland Bone and Joint Program donors provide seed funding to explore potentially transformative treatments.

Recently, donors funded early stage research exploring a novel implementation of photodynamic therapy (PDT) to treat cancer that has spread to the spine and bones. PDT uses light and light-sensitive drugs to destroy cancerous cells. However, delivering light to attack tumours deep inside bones is a challenge.

In collaboration with Holland Bone and Joint Program researchers, Dr. Deepak Dinakaran, a radiation oncologist recently recruited to Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Program, is developing a technology called radioPDT that uses photosensitive nanoparticles that are activated by low-dose focal radiation delivery to treat metastatic cancer in bones. RadioPDT has potential to improve treatment for hard-to- reach and radiation resistant tumours with less detrimental side effects to the remaining bone.

Dr. Dinakaran and his team are leveraging their early data to apply for additional research grants.