Minimally Invasive Hip Replacement Surgery

By John T Dearborn, MD and Alexander Sah, MD
Co-Medical董事
关节修复研究所 and 研究
Washington 医院 Healthcare System

If you are suffering from chronic hip pain due to arthritis or traumatic injury and have tried other treatments such as medications and physical therapy with no improvement, you might want to investigate whether or not hip replacement surgery may be an option for you.

With hip replacement surgery, the surgeon removes the damaged joint surfaces and replaces them with an artificial implant. 几年前，那个手术 entailed an extensive incision, a lengthy hospital stay and months of 康复. Today, though, minimally invasive hip replacement surgery techniques dramatically reduce the amount of post-operative pain and significantly shorten the hospital stay and recovery period.

传统髋关节置换术

Traditional hip replacement surgery, in practice since the 1960s in the United States, has typically utilized an extensive, 5 to 10 inch curved incision on the side of the hip, extending into the buttock area. 的 deep portion of the dissection divides a number of important stabilizing muscles and tendons and ends with removal of the dense fibrous capsule 髋关节. 的 actual size of the incision depends on the size 病人的. Although this approach affords wide exposure to the posterior half 髋关节, it also leads to a predictably large blood loss and significant 康复 time.

Minimally Invasive Hip Replacement

A handful of hip replacement specialists in this country have developed specialized techniques and instruments to allow the same operation to be done with a very limited incision and dissection. 皮肤切口 is typically two to three inches in length. 直接可视化 hip joint is still possible because of special lighting instruments and 牵引器. 的 deep structures, including the capsule, are repaired after the prostheses have been implanted. This exposure is less extensive, and therefore surgeons utilize these techniques with special expertise in hip anatomy and minimally invasive surgery (MIS) techniques.

的 advantages of this approach are many, including reduced operative time, decreased blood loss, fewer postoperative dislocations, reduced pain, and a faster recovery for the patient. 的 length of stay in the hospital has also been reduced to approximately two days. 这些改进 also made hip replacement surgery available to many patients with health problems severe enough to preclude the traditional procedure.

To gain more knowledge about joint replacement and related therapies, visit www.dearbornassoc.com OR www.SahOrtho.com