Hip Replacement Lawyer Discusses Hip Replacement Surgical Techniques
Hip Replacement Lawyer Discusses Hip Replacement Surgical Techniques
Hip replacement surgery as we know it today began in earnest in or about 1969. Since then, there have been more than 50,000 hip implant operations performed at the renowned Mayo Clinic in Minnesota alone. Typically, the surgery is done to relieve severe arthritis and involves replacing the upper end of the femur with a metal ball and resurfacing the hip socket in the pelvic bone with a metal shell and plastic liner.
One new technique in hip replacement is minimally-invasive surgery. Surgeons who favor the technique say it leads to a faster and less painful recovery, less blood loss, and fewer days in the hospital. The incision in "traditional" surgery is usually about 5-8 inches, but in minimally-invasive surgery, it is shorter, typically about three inches. However, some warn that minimally-invasive surgery can result in unforeseen complications.
Revision surgery, which is a second surgery to correct a faulty hip implant, usually involves the following:
In many cases, a longer incision to facilitate implant and scar removal
Removal of the faulty implant and reconstruction of the hip bone
In some cases, bone graft and/or metallic plates, cages, augments, and/or screws to correct severe bone loss
Installation of the new implant
Recovery up to three months
In the case of DePuy's ASR hip implants, 12-13 percent of all recipients have had to have revision surgery. Hip implants should last 15 years, typically, but two models from DePuy have lasted less than five years. The problem with the ASR hip replacements is a design flaw that allows metal to grind on metal within the mechanism. This has caused a variety of problems for patients, including chronic pain, infection and difficulty walking.
Since it appears that DePuy isn't standing behind its product, victims should seek a hip replacement lawyer. According to the New York Times, Arthur Levin, executive director of the Center for Medical Consumers, an advocacy group in New York, said it was "appalling" that DePuy and other hip replacement manufacturers did not provide warranties for their products. (Warranties and medical devices will be the topic of a future post here.)
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