Hip Replacement Surgery Animation
It’s estimated that 2.5% or 1 in 40 adults will have either a knee or hip replacement surgery during their lifetime. Hip replacement surgery is one of the most common types of orthopaedic operations being performed on aging baby boomers in 2016.
Most patients who undergo total hip replacement (THR) are age 50 to 80, and more than 300,000 total hip replacements are performed each year in the United States, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons/Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. That equates to the approximately 20,000 hip replacements a year reported by the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation, most of which are for patients with advanced osteoarthritis (OA).
Hip replacement surgery is typically performed to relieve arthritis pain (most commonly osteoarthritis) after other less invasive options such as pain management and physical therapy, have been exhausted; and in some cases, in the event of a hip fracture.
There are several prosthetic options for the hip implant, which should be selected based on the individual requiring the surgery.
Likewise, there are several different types of surgical approaches for hip replacement surgery, and each has their own attendant risks and benefits.
Hip Replacement Surgery Animation
In the hip replacement surgery animation video below, the anterior approach method is demonstrated.
Hip Replacement Surgery: Hospital Stay or Day Surgery?
The Canadian National Post reported that the average hospital stay for hip replacement surgery in 2016 is down to 3-5 days (compared to two weeks 15 years ago). The article pointed to a first in Quebec (and possibly in Canada) for a hip replacement operation done on an outpatient, day surgery basis in Montreal (August 4, 2016). The technique was a minimally invasive hip replacement operation pioneered by Dr. Richard Berger in Chicago; the patient walked out of the hospital and up the stairs on crutches the same day.
