Dean K Matsuda, MD a board certified orthopedic surgeon, serves as the Director of DISC’s Hip Arthroscopy Center of Excellence. With over 26 years in practice, Dr. Matsuda is an accomplished surgeon and regarded as a pioneer in the field of hip arthroscopy and hip preservation, having developed many of the procedures performed today. Dr. Matsuda is also an avid researcher whose passion for excellence extends beyond the operating room and onto the pages of the numerous journal publications he has authored over the course of his successful career.
“Although I began doing research in a laboratory in college, it was mainly as a way to bolster my medical school application,” says Dr. Matsuda. “However, years later and with genuine purpose, I became interested in clinical research stemming from personal experience as a surgeon and a patient.”
Having undergone bilateral hip arthroscopies himself, Dr. Matsuda was determined to find the best ways to use hip arthroscopy to optimize patient outcomes. During his time at Kaiser West Los Angeles, where he would one day go on to serve as Chief of Orthopedics and Director of Sports Medicine, he saw an opportunity to investigate outcomes and publish research based on high volume experience as a national referral center. Dr. Matsuda has been a prolific producer of high quality research on different hip conditions and procedures, many of which he developed. He has been able to integrate research into one of the very few fully dedicated hip arthroscopy/hip preservation programs. In the last two years alone, Dr. Matsuda has released 15 journal publications in a continued effort to share his research findings and surgical knowledge with surgeons across the globe.
While research is merely one aspect of Dr. Matsuda’s career, it enhances and solidifies his reputation as a world-class surgeon and educator. “The performance of high-quality, evidence-based research takes a lot of time and work beyond that of direct patient care and the performance of surgery,” he says. “But the goal of research, at least in my book, is the improvement of patient care and restoration of health whenever possible. So I view research as part of who I am and what I do.”
Currently, Dr. Matsuda is hard at work performing research on three different levels. He is continuing outcomes research on his own patients. He is collaborating with surgical colleagues on a basic science study investigating the shape of the hip socket and how it is measured on radiographs. Finally, he is performing a clinical study on patients with dysplasia (shallow sockets) as part of a national registry which currently has over 2,000 enrolled arthroscopy patients. Such research and clinical studies ultimately allow Dr. Matsuda to provide better patient care at DISC Sports & Spine Center in Marina Del Rey, CA.
For Dr. Matsuda, it is imperative to present new surgical procedures and break-through research at national or international meetings and publish evidence-based outcomes in reputable peer-reviewed journals. Most surgeons don’t strategically track their patients’ outcomes; Dr. Matsuda follows his surgical patients over the long-term, using validated patient outcome questionnaires and detailed examinations, to provide the highest quality care to the individual as well as to patients with similar conditions undergoing specific procedures.
“Clinical research provides me with the knowledge that my surgical outcomes are good, and informs me if and how they can be improved even further and for which specific patients,” he explains. “Moreover, implicit in research is the constant perusal of the growing journal literature on the subject of hip arthroscopy and hip preservation surgery. In short, I must stay at the cutting edge of emerging research in order to publish cutting-edge, evolving research.” Dr. Matsuda is proud to point out: “My valued patients are the ultimate winners from my research efforts.”