Hip Replacement at Angeles Health International

Widespread adoption of total hip replacement for the treatment of arthritic disorders of the hip joint began more than 40 years ago. It proved to be one of the most important surgical developments of the 20th century and brings substantial pain relief and improved quality of life for thousands of elderly and arthritic patients annually. In recent years, as with many areas of medicine, substantial research has produced better materials and designs for hip replacement devices, and the long-term efficacy of hip replacement surgery continues to grow.

While the very first hip socket replacement took place in 1923 using a cup made of glass, and other procedures using femoral heads made of ivory, steel and chrome gained favor in the 1930s, the first real advances in total hip replacement came with the work of the English country doctor Sir John Charnley, whose metal on polyethylene design became the defacto standard by the 1970s.

Charnley Low Friction Anthroplasty used a reduced-size metal femoral head lubricated with synovial fluid in a polyethylene hip joint, producing clinical wear results that showed 20 - 25 year survival rates near 85%. However Dr. Charnley's devices were best suited to older, more sedentary members of the hip replacement cohort, with younger recipients often needing difficult hip joint revision (surgical replacement of the hip joint) in less time.

Today many hip implants are made of a ceramic material instead of polyethylene, with some research indicating dramatically reduced joint wear in these devices. Metal-on-metal implants have also re-gained popularity with advances in metal machining technology. Some modern implants are now joined without bone cement; the prosthesis has a porous texture into which bone grows. This technique has shown promising results for decreasing the need for revision surgery, though many surgeons still use bone cement for the femoral component, which has proven very successful after 35 years of clinical experience.

The latest developments in hip replacement surgery center on several competing Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) approaches, which surgeons hope will produce far less soft tissue damage and quicker recovery times.