Dr. Aaron Gu Chen

Dr. Chen was one of my surgeons in Rochester, MN. He and Dr Matthew Abdel were doing my 4th left knee replacement. I went to Mayo as they were highly recommended. I had adhesions and heterotypic ossifications and my tibial implant had loosened, sinking over 1 cm and causing type 3 bone loss. Dr. Abdel is the leader in researching and treating these complications, and Dr Chen was/is his Sr. Fellow. The surgery was more complicated and longer than expected but Drs. Chen and Abdel literally worked miracles. They rebuilt the tibia where the bone was eroded (like a hollowed-out funnel) and they replaced the loose implant with a new implant. They also identified that my patellar tendon was thinned at the tibial tubercle and immobilized my knee to prevent it tearing. After 3+ years of agonizing pain feeling like a blowtorch inside my shin, the blowtorch is gone. I never thought the pain would go away and was terrified I would be a lifelong cripple and in constant pain. Dr Chen is not… just an amazing surgeon, but his kindness and care was reassuring. Evenings and weekends he came every day, often multiple times a day, to check on me and answer questions, as did Dr Abdel who even came Saturday morning on his way to the airport to examine my new severe allergic reaction to surgical adhesive and explain how they were addressing it. Dr Chen removed a newly-applied cast Saturday morning and began treatments twice/day with a removable immobilizer instead of the cast. It is now almost 3 weeks post surgery and I have minimal incisional pain, mostly due to the newly developed allergy. No complication prevented Drs. Chen and Abdel from fixing my knee and they are very optimistic that I will be walking fine and pain-free after physical therapy. Dr Chen is studying as a fellow on Dr Abdel's service, and I was incredibly lucky to have them both as my surgeons, and I know Dr Chen will be a leader in orthopedic surgery. He has been professional, skilled, patient, and compassionate from start to finish and I recommend him very very highly! I hope he stays at Mayo and joins Dr. Abdel’s research lab team in addition to performing complex surgeries.