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Am I A Candidate For Birmingham Hip Resurfacing?
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Conventional Total Hip
Replacement (THR) remains an excellent treatment method
for elderly, relatively inactive patients with hip
arthritis. THR has been proven over many years and for
the majority of hip arthritis sufferers this procedure
will remain the treatment of choice.
Hip resurfacing with a
metal/metal articulation shows great promise for the
category of hip arthritis sufferers, who are not good
candidates for THR, namely younger and more active
patients.
Derek McMinn FRCS and
Ronan Treacy FRCS have initiated the modern era of hip
resurfacing. It must be recognized however that the
resurfacing procedure is not proven in the long term,
with their maximum follow-up at the time of writing 9
years 4 months (since Feb' 91). Large numbers of
patients have only been treated over the past 6 years 1
month (Since Mar' 94) with the hybrid fixed components.
At this time
therefore, for an individual patient with hip arthritis
they must decide if they are good candidates for
conventional THR on account of age and activity level.
If they are good candidates for THR, then it is unwise
to turn away from the proven procedure of THR and seek
treatment with the more experimental procedure of hip
resurfacing, where the long term results are unknown.
In patients where age
and/or activity level make them poor candidates for
conventional THR then the Hip Resurfacing method can
reasonally be considered. |
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Check List
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1)
What is your age? |
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Older patients are generally good candidates for THR.
Has your doctor suggested that you are too young for a
THR? If yes. You may consider a Birmingham Hip
Resurfacing. |
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2)
Has your doctor
suggested that activity associated with your occupation
or sport render you unsuitable for a THR? |
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If
yes. You may consider a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing.
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3)
Is your bone quality
good enough for a hip resurfacing? |
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Osteoporosis is a relative contradiction to resurfacing.
Older women are most at risk of Osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis predisposes you to early femoral neck
fracture following resurfacing . X-ray and if necessary
DEXA Scan will exclude Osteoporosis. |
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4)
Has the bone around your
Arthritic hip been destroyed? |
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Destructive Arthritis precludes hip resurfacing.
Anti-inflammatory drugs taken in the long term have a
destructive effect on the bone around an Osteoarthritic
hip . Interestingly the same destructive effect with
anti-inflammatory drugs is not generally seen in the
inflammatory arthritidies e.g. Rheumatoid arthritis
affecting the hip. |
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5)
Do you clearly
understand that hip resurfacing is unproven in the long
term? |
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You
must understand and accept this before agreeing to the
hip resurfacing procedure. This current lack of
long-term results means that all patients having this
procedure must be followed up for life, so that early
warning x-ray signs can be detected and so that
long-term results can be established. |
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6)
Do you think that hip
resurfacing may be a good procedure for you?
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If so then Smith &
Nephew will be able to provide you with details of a
surgeon in your area who is trained in the Birmingham
Hip Resurfacing procedure. That surgeon will be able to
make a detailed assessment of your hip arthritis
problem, discuss available alternative treatment options
and if you and your surgeon agree then a Birmingham Hip
Resurfacing can be performed. |
