Category Archives: Resources

Patient Guide to Metal-on-Metal Total Hip Replacements – Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA

Posted on by
Reply

A Guide for Patients with Metal-on-Metal Total Hip Replacements

The Mass General Center for Metal-on-Metal Total Hip Replacement provides state-of-the-art comprehensive care to patients with metal-on-metal total joint replacements and conducts cutting-edge research. Our physicians and researchers have transformed basic discoveries into clinical practice and provide critical evaluation for and specific advice for metal-on-metal implants.

Because some patients with Metal-on-Metal (MoM) hip replacements develop unexplained pain, and because a few develop abnormal tissue reactions to the wear of the implants and require a reoperation, we established a Center that patients could rely on for comprehensive clinical evaluation.

In the majority of cases, conventional pre-operative tests (plain radiographs and standard blood tests) do not reveal any abnormality. Thus, the ordinary follow up evaluation may be of limited value. The mission of Mass General Center for Metal-on-Metal Total Hip Replacement is to provide excellence in clinical care to MoM patients by integrating various specialized tests (analysis of blood samples for metal ions, and imaging studies) in order to establish if an adverse reaction to MoM THR implants is present and to formulate the best way to treat these problems.

via Patient Guide to Metal-on-Metal Total Hip Replacements – Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.

A Scramble for Solutions as a Hip Device Fails – NYTimes.com

Posted on by
1

Some patients with all-metal hips — ones in which the cup and ball of a joint is made of metal — said they had been bounced from doctor to doctor who did not have the knowledge or the tools to properly diagnose the problem. And by the time they reach specialists like Dr. Kwon at Massachusetts General Hospital, potentially lasting damage may have already taken place.

Dr. Kwon’s recent patient, Robert Cartier, said he saw seven doctors over the course of a year who told him not to worry or who gave him shots for his pain. Diagnostic tests also did not point to a problem. Only recently have researchers determined that such scans need to be run in a specific way to detect the extent of metal-related damage.

via A Scramble for Solutions as a Hip Device Fails – NYTimes.com.

New HIP Social Network!

Posted on by
Reply

Join our HIP Social Network (like Facebook) for HIPSTERS!

Click here!

In addition to this blog, this is our new  social network to connect with other Hipsters worldwide!

Healing Gardens for Hip Replacement Recovery

Posted on by
Reply

   Every condition or disease has its challenges, and understanding these challenges is necessary to the planning process. Designing a space to facilitate recovery from a hip replacement would require a very different approach than designing a space for child with ASD, or a parent with Alzheimer’s disease.

There is much to learn from the Client’s clinical team: physician, care providers, specialists, etc., each of whom has very specific and personal knowledge about the individual and the level of their disability. In addition, many conditions and diseases have societies and support groups associated with them, so there is often a wealth of information available t

via Healing Gardens Part II.

History of Hip Replacements

Posted on by
1

   History

The earliest recorded attempts at hip replacement (Gluck T, 1891), which were carried out in Germany, used ivory to replace the femoral head (the ball on the femur).1

In 1940 at Johns Hopkins hospital, Dr. Austin T. Moore (1899–1963), an American surgeon, reported and performed the first metallic hip replacement surgery. The original prosthesis he designed was a proximal femoral replacement, with a large fixed head, made of the Cobalt-Chrome alloy Vitallium. It was about a foot in length and it bolted to the resected end of the femoral shaft (hemiarthroplasty). This was unlike later (and current) hip replacement prostheses which are inserted within the medullary canal of the femur. A later version of Dr. Moore’s prosthesis, the so-called Austin Moore, introduced in 1952 is still in use today.

In 1960 a Burmese orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. San Baw (29 June 1922 – 7 December 1984), pioneered the use of ivory hip prostheses to replace ununited fractures of the neck of femur when he first used an ivory prosthesis to replace the fractured hip bone of an 83 year old Burmese Buddhist nun, Daw Punya.2 This was done while Dr. San Baw was the chief of orthopaedic surgery at Mandalay General Hospital in Mandalay, Burma. Dr. San Baw used over 300 ivory hip replacements from the 1960s to 1980s. He presented a paper entitled “Ivory hip replacements for ununited fractures of the neck of femur” at the conference of the British Orthopaedic Association held in London in September 1969. An 88% success rate was discerned in that Dr. San Baw’s patients ranging from the ages of 24 to 87 were able to walk, squat, ride a bicycle and play football a few weeks after their fractured hip bones were replaced with ivory prostheses. Ivory may have been used because it was cheaper than metal at that time in Burma and also was thought to have good biomechanical properties including biological bonding of ivory with the human tissues nearby. An extract from Dr San Baw’s paper, which he presented at the British Orthopaedic Association’s Conference in 1969, is published in Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (British edition), February 1970. With modern hip replacement surgery, one can expect to walk immediately post-op.

Hip Replacement Surgery, Implants, Options, Information | BoneSmart

Posted on by
Reply

Hip replacement surgery is performed over 300,000 times each year in the U.S. to repair severe hip damage. In a hip replacement, the surgeon removes degenerate cartilage and bone from the hip joint and replaces them with prosthetics. This surgery is used to accomplish long-term pain relief and increased mobility.

via Hip Replacement Surgery, Implants, Options, Information | BoneSmart | BoneSmart.

Faulty Hip Implants, One Woman’s Story

Posted on by
Reply

Faulty Hip Implants, One Woman’s Story.

Advancements in hip replacement ease the way for patients

Posted on by
Reply

Hip-replacement surgery, in general, involves replacing the cartilage with an artificial liner and replacing the top of the thigh bone. The new top has a stem, which is anchored into the thigh bone. It takes time for the bone to adhere to the new part.

For orthopedic surgeons, accessing the joint is like charting a course to a snowy peak – there are various routes, all carrying risks and rewards. Part of the challenge is navigating the formidable terrain of muscles and soft tissue, including the thick hip joint capsule, with as little disruption as possible.

One widely used, time-tested procedure, called the “posterior approach” because of the point of entry, compels a couple of months of limits on movement postoperatively, while the muscles and soft tissue heal. Newer surgeries, broadly referred to as “minimally invasive,” have reduced or eliminated those restrictions, meaning less chance of complications, less time in the hospital and faster healing. According to Drinker, all surgeries, even the posterior one, are less invasive than in the past, and have the same end result – a sturdy hip free from arthritis pain, that can last for more than 20 years. For those who have hip replacement, “it is life-changing,” Drinker said.

Drinker works at Hampshire Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Inc., in Hatfield. He also is medical director of Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s joint replacement center. Drinker and Dr. Robert Krushell of New England Orthopedic Surgeons in Springfield use versions of the posterior approach. Krushell calls his a “mini-posterior that creates relatively little disruption of tissues around the hip. It doesn’t compromise muscle strength.”

Read more and hear other hipster’s stories….

My name is Jodi and I’m powerless…

Posted on by
2

My “baby” picture…

On October 31, 2010, it’s my right hip’s one year anniversary.  That hip (anterior) is doing well.  My left hip (posterior)  is a reminder that I am doing too much …moving too fast <ouch> , not taking enough self-care <ughh>, and forgetting I am seemingly always in recovery of some kind <ah>….it’s my thermometer of sorts . My hips know before I even have a clue….

I admit it, do over-do it, I’ll admit it. I’m a type-A, a bionic type-A now!  The truth is I find I can’t sit for super long periods of time without having to get up and move about.  And sometimes I have to pause a beat when I get up before taking a step.  It’s just “what is”.  I make sure I swim (the best exercise for joints) and I walk and ride the bike everyday.  It took a while to get that schedule down, but I feel so much better.  I listen to empowering tapes when I’m on the stationary bike…that really helps! It’s a great balance for sitting at the computer.  I feel proud of what I have accomplished, I wear my scars as a badge of honor.  I choose to! And, it is a matter of choice…

See, I  feel as if going through this experience (twice), and at a young age has made me stronger (facing many fears – some kicking and screaming and crying, of course), and also made me want to help others who are facing a hip replacement or are recovering and looking for support.  I believe we are a CLUB, and we need to support each other.

That’s also why I created a yahoo email group AND Hip Happy Hours!

Sign up for our Email Chat group now! 🙂

So – hello there fellow HIPSTERS and welcome to The Hipster Club!  We’ve been initiated, we’re bionic…and we set off ALARMS (at the airport)!!!!

XOXO

Jodi