DePuy Hip

June 17, 2015

New Procedure for Double Hip Replacement

According to a recent news article from the Times-Herald, a patient interviewed was a former college football player at East Tennessee State University and a life long athlete who had developed severe arthritis in both of his hips. His doctors told him there was virtually no chance he would be able to continue walking if he did not have a double hip replacement.

The patient, now 56 years old, said he did not want a double hip replacement. There was no way he wanted to undergo the surgery and did everything he could to avoid the procedure. He said his daily pain level was eight out of ten and sometimes worse. He needed a walker and a cane just to get around.

Finally, after the pain got unbearable, he spoke to a new doctor who had recently relocated to the area and was using a relatively new procedure during surgery known as anterior total hip arthroplasty. Patient listened to what the doctor had to say and also did his own research. He determined the new procedure, which had been around for some time at other hospitals, was as good as advertised, and with this new approach, healing and rehabilitation took two months less on average than when using conventional surgical procedures for total hip replacement.
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June 10, 2015

Hip Replacement Surgery for Patients of All Ages

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Total hip replacement surgery is traditionally a procedure performed on older Americans. Female patients were typically around 5 to 10 years younger than the average male patient, but outside of athletes and accident victims, the surgery was generally performed on patients who were over the age of 50.

According to a recent feature from Costal Point, total hip replacement surgery is now becoming more common for patients both young and old. While many total hip replacement patients are aging baby boomers who still desire to lead an active lifestyle, as opposed to spending their golden years in a nursing home facility, there has been a significant increase in the number of hip implants on younger Americans.

People who are in there 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s are more commonly getting the procedures for sports-related trauma and injuries caused by leading a more active lifestyle than people had in the past. With more people playing recreational sports and running than ever before, there has been a reported uptick in cases of severe osteoarthritis at a much younger age than in the past.
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June 1, 2015

Arthritis Pain and Need for Hip Replacement Surgery

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Absent a car accident, sports injury or other acute serious trauma, most people who undergo elective hip replacement surgery are older individuals who have dealt with years of osteoarthritis pain. While the average age has fallen slightly, most patients deal with arthritis pain until they can no longer get around, and eventually decide to undergo total hip replacement surgery.

Prior to having surgery, there are various non-surgical techniques, such as taking anti-inflammatory medications, cortisone injections, medical grade joint lubrication injections, and various other similar treatments, but eventually the pain gets to the point where total hip replacement surgery is the only feasible option.

According to a recent article from the NY Daily News, arthritis is one of the most common chronic health conditions in the United States. Researchers estimate there are over 25 million Americans suffering from chronic arthritis at any given time. While arthritis is cause by either normal wear-and-tear of a joint, or as result of some traumatic impact, with respect to hip arthritis, it is estimated the condition will develop in around 20 percent of all Americans at some point in their lives.
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May 6, 2015

A Look at Minimally Invasive Hip Replacement in Boston

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Boston’s PBS affiliate, WGBH, recently featured a program showing what it is like to be in the operating room during a minimally invasive total hip replacement surgery. Traditional methods involved making a 12-inch incision along the side of a patient’s hip and dislocating the hip joint from the pelvis. This method, still used in patients over 60 and who have other health issues, requires patients to stay in the hospital for days or even weeks and undergo a slow and painful recovery process. The large incision also increases the risk patients will develop a serious infection following surgery.

With minimally invasive techniques, only a six-inch incision is needed at the top of a patient’s hip, and dislocation is not required in many cases. This means a patient can typically go home that same night and sleep in his or her own bed. This also means there will be less pain during recovery, less risk of an artificial hip failure, and less time away from work or one’s other daily routine.

The reason doctors are able to perform a minimally invasive total hip replacement surgery is though the use of modern technology. It all begins with surgeons and radiologists working together to take a CT scan of the patient’s pelvic area while he or she is in the operating room. Doctors then use a computer and the CT image to make a three dimensional virtual model of exactly how the operation will work. There is an electronic signaling device used to guide the surgeon while he or she is watching a monitor while the movements occur inside the patient.
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April 29, 2015

Total Hip Replacement Surgery for Young Patients

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

When we think of total hip replacement surgery, we typically think of older patients. Many times, a hip replacement is needed to treat years of pain caused by increasing osteoarthritis.

In some elderly patients, more commonly women, a fall can result in a broken hip, which is often treated with hip replacement surgery. However, hip replacement surgery is not only used on elderly Americans. Sometimes hip replacement surgery patients are much younger.

According to a recent news feature from Health Line, hip replacement surgery is commonly performed in young patients who suffer from juvenile arthritis. More specifically, physicians are using it to conditions known as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), which is a form of arthritis that can occur at any age (most commonly young patients) and is caused by an autoimmune response. These conditions can be treated with a total hip replacement, as would be done with patients in their 60s and 70s. But the problem lies with the expected lifespan of the artificial hip implant.

Under normal conditions, including wear and tear from for ordinary use, an artificial hip implant, if designed properly, will last around ten years, though sometimes longer. When a patient is around 70 years of age, the lifespan of the hip is similar to the lifespan of the patient, so this does not present a significant problem. It is not as if a properly constructed artificial hip will simply fail all at once. Rather, years of wear will make it become loose and start to cause pain to the patient.
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April 4, 2015

TESLA Singer Jeff Keith Undergoes Total Hip Replacement

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

While the need for a total hip replacement surgery sometimes results from an elderly patient suffering a broken hip or as result of a serious car accident, it is often the result of a patient living many years with severe osteoarthritis. At some point, it becomes so painful that cortisone shots and over the counter painkillers stop working, and patients decide to have their surgeons implant artificial hip joints.

According to a recent news article from Ultimate Classic Rock, TESLA singer Jeff Keith recently had his hip replaced, and the band had to cancel some upcoming tour dates where they were scheduled to perform with Def Leppard and Styx. A band representative says TESLA will be back on the road in time for their summer tour.

TESLA’s management said they had already cut back on the band’s touring schedule and cancelled some dates because the pain from the arthritis in Keith’s hips made it extremely difficult for him to continue performances. The band was faced with a need to decide quickly on what do with respect to Keith’s condition, and a decision was made for him to have a total hip replacement procedure as quickly as possible, which is what happened.
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March 29, 2015

Total Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery Complications Worse for Men

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news article from Medical News Today, men suffer more complications resulting from total hip and knee replacement surgery than woman who undergo the same procedure. Both surgeries are used in patients with painful joint arthritis and joint deterioration.

While, in some cases, a patient has suffered an acute trauma to the knee or hip where the joint is actually broken, most patients get the respective surgeries after living for years with chronic pain, and it gets to a point where they can no longer deal with the discomfort.

Researchers discovered how men fair worse after having surgery than women. First, the study noted, while men typically have total hip replacement or total knee replacement at an earlier age than women, they are more likely to not only have increased pain, but need second or subsequent surgeries to address the complications.

The study examined data from patients who had total joint replacement procedures at a single hospital between 2002 and 2009. This included almost 100,000 patients, which gives us an idea of the vast number of people having total hip and total knee replacements each year. The numbers of women having the procedures was slightly higher than men, but the numbers where close to being balanced. The numbers also reflected an average age of female patients being 70 and the average age of male patients being 65, which is standard.

When examining post-operative data, researchers found men were around 15 percent more likely to go to the emergency room for joint replacement complications than women within a month following surgery. Men were also more likely to have a heart attack following surgery than women, and men were 50 percent more likely to need a second surgery within two years to deal with the complications.
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March 15, 2015

Robotic Hip Replacement Assistance May Help Patients

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Hip replacement surgery is a major operation, despite how common it has become for orthopedic surgeons. When a patient decides to undergo implantation of artificial hip, he or she can expect a lot of pain following the surgery, a lengthy recovery time, and must be careful not to disturb the healing process. This is true when everything goes correctly.

One of the problems surgeons face is an artificial hip must be implanted in a very precise location. If it is off even by a few millimeters, the device may fail, and patient will need another operation to correct the problem. To aid in the implantation process, surgeons are now testing a new robotic surgery system that allows them to implant the device in the exact location and know if their placement is off by even the slightest degree. According to a recent article from TribLive, these new surgical robots, which cost $800,000 each, will first generate a map calculating the best location for proper alignment.

After the system creates a placement map, it assists surgeons during implantation, as it gives off an audible alarm is placement is off by even half a millimeter. This will greatly increase the chances of the hip being anchored properly, which in turn will decrease pain and suffering and recovery time.
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February 10, 2015

New Procedure Potential Alternative to Total Hip Replacement Surgery

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Total hip replacement surgeries in the United States have increased by astonishing rates over the past decade. Medical device manufacturers have been heavily marketing new artificial hips to surgeons and patients as a way to get rid of the pain of arthritis and allow people to function as they did when they were years younger.

While many patients actually need a new hip, many may not. Additionally, regardless of the need for a total hip replacement, no patient needs to be victim to one of the numerous defective hips and surgical cutting guides that have hit the market. Victims have suffered extreme pain and suffering, partial or complete failures of their new artificial hips, and other serious health conditions related to a defectively designed medical device.

According to a recent news article from the Daily Mail, doctors in England are in clinical trials with a new technique they hope will one day lead to an end to total hip replacement surgery. This new technique uses an experimental product called Preob, which is called an osteoblastic (bone-forming) agent.
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January 22, 2015

Pirates Manager to be “Hippest Cat in Town” After Second Surgery

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

It was previously reported after the end of baseball season, Pirates manager, Clint Hurdle, had a total hip replacement. His struggles with arthritis were well known to baseball fans as the beloved manager could barely stand in the dugout for the length of a ballgame last season.

This painful arthritis in left right hip led him to undergo a total hip replacement less than three months ago. Now Hurdle says the pain in his right hip has gotten so unbearable he has elected to have a total hip replacement in his right leg.

57-year-old Hurdle, who says he will soon be the “hippest cat in town,” knew he would someday need to have his other hip replaced, but did not know when. After speaking with his surgeon, he decided to go ahead and get it over with before the upcoming season.
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