Get Hip with The Anterior Approach Hip Replacement Surgery

The term "hip replacement" usually causes more than a little concern for people who are told they have to undergo the operation. Traditionally, hip replacement surgery conjures images of major surgery and a long recovery process.

Different surgeons perform different kinds of hip replacement surgeries: lateral, antero-lateral, posterior and anterior techniques. These terms refer to the position from which the incision is made and the new hip replaced from. The anterior approach is a minimally invasive procedure with a quicker recovery time. It has not yet been conclusively proven that any one method is superior, but the anterior approach seems to be one of the most promising.

History of Hip Replacement Surgery

German physician, Themistocles Gluck is widely credited for his pioneering work in the field of joint replacement. He performed the first knee replacement surgery using ivory on May 20, 1890. However, Dr. Austin T. Moore performed the first hip replacement procedure in 1940. He replaced the damaged joint with metal.

Dr. San Baw, a Burmese doctor is recognized for further utilizing ivory in his hip replacement work, beginning with a procedure performed on an 83 year old nun in 1960. Up until the 1980s, he performed over 300 such procedures. Since these early pioneers, the process of hip replacement has grown by leaps and bounds.

The Anterior Approach

The anterior approach was introduced to the USA by Dr. Joel M. Matta in 1996. He is in fact credited as being one that has perfected the technique that was originally invented in France. Since then he has performed over 600 hip replacement surgeries with this method alone. This is procedure is less invasive that traditional hip replacement surgery. The advantages of hip replacement surgery using the anterior approach include:

* Less soft tissue trauma
* Smaller scar due to smaller incisions
* Less blood loss
* Quicker recovery

With this procedure the hip joint is accessed through the front of the hip. This way the surgeon can work between the muscles without detaching them. With the anterior approach, patients have also been shown to be able to bear more weight and bend at the hip much sooner than those who have had traditional hip replacement surgery.

Possible Complications of Hip Surgery

Hip replacement surgery like most other surgical procedures, does carry the risk of complications. Some patients suffer pain after they have fully recovered even though all scans are normal. Some of this pain may be due to nerve damage during the replacement procedure. Dislocation of the new joint can also occur, however this affects roughly one percent of prosthetic hip recipients. There have also been cases where patients have had to undergo surgery again due to normal wear and tear of the prosthetic joint. Some patients may also get an infection after surgery. Fortunately, only about one percent of hip replacement patients are affected annually.

An estimated 250,000 hip replacement procedures are performed in the US every year. It is important to note that hip replacement is usually a last resort after other courses of treatment, such as medication, have failed. Alternatives to hip replacement include hip resurfacing and injecting specially made lubricants into the affected joints.

Patients suffering from joint problems caused by rheumatoid arthritis, fractures of the hip, osteoarthritis, and bone tumors are potential candidates for anterior hip replacement surgery. It has been theorized that future therapies would involve attempting to re-grow the lost or damaged joint tissue; however this is largely dependent on further developments in stem cell research.

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