Minimally Invasive Hip Surgery and Future Developments

Mr Charnley is one of a group of surgeons in the United Kingdom who with colleagues in America and Europe have been performing total hip surgery through smaller conventional or alternative incisions.

Minimally Invasive Hip Surgery InstrumentsThe idea of combined small incisions or reduced surgical approaches is that the surgery will cause less pain, lower the hospital stay, reduce the need for blood transfusion and permit the patient to rehabilitate much more swiftly in comparison with the standard large incisions currently used.

The goal is for incisions of under twelve centimetres, (sometimes even smaller) without prejudicing the long-term results of the operation.

Some of the incisions are based on the Heuter approach that Mr Charnley learnt whilst a Hip Fellow in Paris.

Zimmer, the largest Orthopaedic Implant Manufacturer in the world, has invested in, and researched new instruments and prostheses to build on the early work that has been pioneered in the USA by Dr Dana Mears, Dr Richard Berger and Dr Mark Hartzband.

The combination of reduced surgical scars; revolutionary instruments and modified cemented or cementless prostheses has allowed this new technology to evolve successfully.

Following initial discussions with Dr Mears at the Millennium Hip Meeting in Lisbon in 2000, Mr Charnley has attended instructional lectures given by the proponents of this surgery in the USA and has participated in workshops and live operating in Europe. He himself has also lectured on the antero-lateral mini incision approach.

The two incision technique limits the surgeon to a narrow range of implants. The single mini incisions allow standard implants that are tried and tested to be inserted at a cost of a few extra days in hospital, but without the risks of X-ray exposure or intra-operative femoral fracture.

On average Mr Charnley performs two minimally invasive hip replacement operations per week and over the past eighteen months he has noticed a significantly decreased hospital stay and a shorter rehabilitation period.  His anaesthetist has also noticed a lower post operative demand for analgesia and blood transfusion.

Minimally Invasive Hip Surgery InstrumentsMinimally Invasive Hip Surgery may well have the impact that Resurfacing Hip Arthroplasty has had over the past few years, and developments in cementless hip technology, including new surface finishes and ceramics may well compliment these revolutionary developments.

The instrument designs and techniques remain the intellectual property and patents of Zimmer.

 

 

 

This page was last updated on 04/Mar/2012