Hundreds of thousands of Americans have, throughout the years, had hip replacement surgery since its inception over four decades ago. Ever since, many arthritis-ridden individuals have found relief in these prosthetics which has given them a second chance at self-mobility. In modern times, the basic premise of the procedure still stays the same.
Usually by making a large incision on the upper thigh, surgeons then remove the worn connecting parts of the femur and hip socket and replace them with artificial materials selected for minimal reaction with the host body. Although far from being a perfect procedure all throughout, recent breakthroughs have lead to newer methods of installing and correcting artificial hip implants.
The newer method of prosthetic hip installation is called minimal invasive surgery. It is minimal in the sense that the incision in this method is two to four inches shorter that the traditional one. This may seem like a small difference, but physiologically speaking, two to four inches less tissue to be healed can yield a very big difference in both the risk of excessive blood loss and the patient’s recovery time. Although there are still some surgeons who favor the earlier method, more and more have placed their trust in minimal invasive surgery.
And in the event that the hip replacements are defective and need to be removed, revision surgery can be performed. These procedures consist of removing the implants from their grafting into the bones, and re-structuring these bones with metal bolts, plates, and wires. Typical recovery period is up to three months. These hip replacement removals have been a popular topic in medical circles recently due to DePuy Orthopaedic’s recall of their ASR implants. They have been found to release harmful metal ions into the body because of the contact between two metallic surfaces in the product.
Recipients of the ASR product line of hip replacements manufactured by DePuy Orthopaedics have a very large demographic that have gone on to receive revision surgery, twelve to thirteen percent. Parts of the products were said to have foregone the necessary clinical tests before they were put in the market, causing a lot of their products to be prematurely removed from some of their clients. Apparently, there is also no warranty for the hip replacements. This has resulted in cases calling for the company to pay the customers who have had to endure these removals.
