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.
The 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
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
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