The work of local doctors is enabling a teenager to pursue a promising baseball career. He was born with a hip deformity that was getting worse and more disabling. Surgeons at Barnes-Jewish Hospital performed a special procedure to keep him on the field. The cutting edge procedure is the subject of the Fox Files Health Watch.

Pitcher Chris Mackey just finished an outstanding high school career in Springfield, Missouri. He led his te am to the AA championship game, going 11and 1 and hitting 5.27. But within weeks of that great triumph, he was off the mound and on the operating table at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. For the second time in his young life, Chris would have to have hip surgery. The surgery on his right hip will correct a congenital deformity called hip dysplasia. Dr. John Clohisy explains. "So in hip dysplasia, the hip socket is actually tilted, tilted up like that, so the head of the hip joint is not covered by the socket. In Christopher''s hip here, we see that he has a shallow hip socket; the hip socket does not cover the ball of the hip joint or the femoral head the way it should and it''s also inclined."

It was during his sophomore season when Chris'' hips started hurting and even popping sometimes when he delivered a pitch. "But there was a particular game in the summer where I was doing it and my second baseman heard it pop."

"So with this type of deformity, I would suspect that he would get significant arthritis in the hip i n his late 20''s and early 30''s and then probably need a hip replacement* at a very early age*." To avoid that, Dr. Clohisy is performing the Ganz Procedure: a special hip surgery that saves the original bone and cartilage. "The bones around the hip socket are cut. We make a cut here, here, and then above the hip socket. That enables us to reposition the hip socket." Barnes-Jewish is one of less than a dozen medical centers in the country that offers the procedure.

Dr. Clohisy and Chris have reason to be optimistic. Chris had surgery on his left hip in February of 2003 and he missed the baseball season his junior year. After rehab, he came back this year for his senior season and his first game on the mound for Springfield Catholic. He threw a one hitter. "And I hit 88 or 89 on the gun, in the middle of March. So I knew at that point, you know, it was a real success to be throwing that hard. I threw a perfect game through the middle of the year and then I had two more no-hitters a couple of weeks later. So yeah, it was a real exciting year. I''ve never thrown a perfect game before."

"So this is his one corrected hip on the left that has healed and done very well." The surgery on his right hip lasted nearly four hours. "His surgery went perfectly. We got a very nice correction of the hip socket. And you can see that the socket has been repositioned and placed on top of the ball of the hip joint."

Doctors think the Ganz Procedure will help Chris stay active for 20-30 years and prevent or delay the onset of osteoarthritis in his hips. They know he''ll work hard in rehab. "So I anticipate that he will be back to full sport activities within six months." Chris can''t wait. And with both hip shealthy, he sees a bright future. "Just seeing how I''ve recovered from this left one. Now, if I''ve got two good legs, no telling how hard I''ll be throwing or you know, how many perfect games I might be throwing."

Doctors say Chris may still need a hip replacement at some point, maybe in his 50''s or 60''s. But right now, Chris is headed to Southwest Missouri State on a baseball scholarship. After that, he''d love to play in the majors, for the Cardinals, of course.