Louis W. Catalano, MD

I became a doctor because I love interacting with people and have a lifelong affinity for science and math.

As a premed student, I shadowed a neurologist, pediatrician, and gastroenterologist and knew that a career in medicine was definitely for me. But it was orthopedics that really grabbed me. I love the technical aspects of surgery—hand surgery specifically—and am fascinated by the complex, awesome aspects of forearm and hand anatomy.

I care about my patients and offer them the same treatment I would want my family to receive. They can count on me to recommend surgery only when necessary. I manage hand, wrist, elbow, and shoulder problems surgically and nonsurgically. I am particularly interested in biceps tendon tears near the elbow, wrist and elbow fractures, and thumb basal joint arthritis, which is when cartilage in the joint at the thumb’s base wears away.

My research is currently focused on trigger finger treatment options and cubital tunnel syndrome, a condition similar to carpal tunnel syndrome that can cause numbness or tingling in the ring and small fingers, pain in the forearm, or weakness in the hand. I am also researching nonsurgical management of wrist fracture malunions. A malunion refers to a fracture that has not healed properly because the bones were not aligned properly, a cast was removed too soon, or a fracture healed without medical treatment.

I have been on New York Magazine’s “Best Doctors in New York” list since 2012. I am a past president of the New York Society for Surgery of the Hand. I am active in the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, serving on many of its committees and giving instructional course lectures annually.