Hip Replacement Surgery: A Treatment Method for Hip Osteoarthritis

Hip replacement surgery is a treatment for patients with hip osteoarthritis caused by damage or deterioration of the hip joint, leading to pain in the hip joint, hip deformity, or other symptoms that make it impossible to use the hip or live a life normally.
Hip prosthesis is a medical synthetic material created to replace the natural hip joint. It is made of metal alloy, titanium, cobalt, chromium, or ceramic and can be safely in the human body with usability over ten years.
Steps of hip Replacement Surgery with robotic-assisted surgical technology starts with creating 3D images of the patient’s hip bones from CT Scan, enabling personalized planning with accuracy before the hip surgery. The surgeon will use a computer program to select the size and position of the hip prosthesis that suits each patient’s bone condition or hip joint problems. After that, the robotic arm assists surgeons in cutting or rewinding bones to the desired position and angle as planned, reducing errors and improving the patient’s recovery as well as movement quality after surgery.
The benefits of hip replacement surgery are that it helps patients relieve hurt or pain from the deterioration of the hip joint, walk normally without feeling hurt, move their hips well without stiffness, and give a normal length balance back to their legs, and regain their normal movements to live their daily lives more happily.

Plan the hip replacement surgery with CT scan processing of the patient’s hip bones and creating their 3D images
After that, the surgeon will use a computer program to select the size and position of the hip prosthesis, enabling personalized planning of the desired prosthesis size, angle, and position before the hip surgery. This helps suit each patient’s bone condition or hip joint problems.
The robotic arm assists surgeons in cutting or rewinding bones to the desired position and angle.
The robot will help control the position of the hip prosthesis to achieve the opening and inverted angles as specified by the surgeon, which will be suitable for each patient.

Hip replacement surgery is a treatment for patients with hip osteoarthritis caused by damage or deterioration of the hip joint, leading to pain in the hip joint, hip deformity, or other symptoms that make it impossible to use the hip or live a life normally. Hip surgery is required when the patient has been treated with physical therapy, injections, or medication, but does not improve the symptoms.

Therefore, this article will help you understand that hip replacement surgery is not as frightening as it may seem and all patients can be treated and return to their normal lives.

X-ray to design hip replacement surgery planning

Table of Contents

What is hip prosthesis and hip replacement surgery?

Hip prosthesis is a medical synthetic material created to replace the natural hip joint. It is made of metal alloy, titanium, cobalt, chromium, or ceramic and can be safely in the human body with usability over ten years.

Hip replacement surgery is a surgery to remove the original degenerated hip joint and replace it with a hip prosthesis so that the patients can move their body conveniently and return to their daily routine.

Hip osteoarthritis is commonly found in the elderly.

Who are prone to hip osteoarthritis?

The majority with risks of developing hip osteoarthritis and require hip replacement surgery can be divided into 2 groups as follows:

The elderly: This group is diagnosed with having hip osteoarthritis frequently and in large numbers. As the elderly have been using the hip joint for a long time, hip osteoarthritis in this group is typically caused by age-related deterioration.
Patients with other causes or earlier diseases: Other causes of hip osteoarthritis include long-term use of steroids, regular alcohol consumption, accidents or injuries to the hip joint, as well as illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis or previous hip infections, etc.

Robotic surgery creates 3D images of the patient’s bones to help surgeons design hip replacement operations effectively.

Steps of robotic surgery for hip replacement operation

Hip replacement surgery at kdms Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, adopts robotic assistance in helping surgeons perform hip surgery. This will boost efficiency and accuracy of hip replacement operation. The steps for robotic surgery are as follows:

Plan the hip replacement surgery with CT scan processing of the patient’s hip bones and creating their 3D images
After that, the surgeon will use a computer program to select the size and position of the hip prosthesis, enabling personalized planning of the desired prosthesis size, angle, and position before the hip surgery. This helps suit each patient’s bone condition or hip joint problems.
The robotic arm assists surgeons in cutting or rewinding bones to the desired position and angle.
The robot will help control the position of the hip prosthesis to achieve the opening and inverted angles as specified by the surgeon, which will be suitable for each patient.

Robotic hip replacement surgery will allow the surgeon to adjust the balance of the hip joint at the level of 1 millimeter or 1 degree so that the hip prosthesis fits the patient’s body the most. In addition, it reduces injuries and mistakes while preventing complications during hip surgery. This results in faster patient recovery as well as good and stable prosthetic joint movement, helping patients to return to everyday life and improve their quality of life

What should you prepare before undergoing hip replacement surgery

Preparing for hip replacement surgery is similar to those of general surgery such as physical examination, maintaining good health, or having enough sleep, etc. However, patients with hip osteoarthritis who will undergo hip replacement surgery must put much importance in 3 things as follows:

Control underlying diseases well

The first thing that patients need to prepare well before undergoing hip replacement surgery is to control their underlying diseases because some of them can affect the hip surgery or cause complications such as:

Diabetes: If diabetes is not under control and the sugar level rises, it can result in infection.
Blood pressure disease: If patients do not take medication before undergoing hip surgery, it may result in more bleeding than usual during hip replacement operation.

Patients with underlying medical conditions should consult with their doctors about how to adjust their medication or their behavior before undergoing hip replacement surgery to prevent complications that may follow. If the patients neglect and do not control their conditions well, it can result in a higher risk of complications and, possibly, various symptoms in the future.

Refrain from taking medications that affect hip surgery

Patients should refrain from taking certain medications before undergoing hip replacement surgery such as:

Anticoagulants: should not be taken 3-7 days before surgery (consult your doctor before pausing drug taking)
Antiplatelet medications: should not be taken 7 days before surgery (consult your doctor before pausing drug taking)
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: should not be taken about 7 days before surgery
Herb supplements: should not be taken about 14 days before surgery

These drugs may affect hip replacement surgery such as slow blood clotting, increased bleeding, or blood clots after surgery. They may also result in other complications during or after surgery.

Refrain from smoking

Patients who smoke should refrain from smoking at least 2 weeks before undergoing hip replacement surgery to improve lung and tracheal function. It will help prevent respiratory infections, wound infections, and complications that may occur in the future.

If the patient does not refrain from smoking before undergoing hip surgery, it can affect the body as well as respiratory system and lead to poor lung function and blood vessel problems. Moreover, it makes bone attachment and the surgical wound heal more slowly.

Be careful when moving your body after hip replacement surgery.

What should you do after hip replacement surgery?

After hip replacement surgery, patients require very short recovery time and are able to quickly return to nearly normal or normal hip activities. However, they still need to take care of themselves with strict practices and precautions in order to keep the same pace of returning to normal life and to prevent complications from occurring. There are 3 things that patients should do and be careful about after hip surgery:

Be careful when making certain movements

Many people may ask “How long is hip surgery recovery?”, “How many days would it take?”, and “When will I be walking after a hip replacement surgery?”. Actually, patients can walk immediately on the day of surgery and can return home in just 3-4 days. Although, they still need to be careful when moving in specific postures during the first 2 months to prevent the hip joint from possible complications such as the posture that twists your feet outwards, sitting on the floor with legs to a side, and bending over to pick up things on the floor.

Exercise the muscles around the hip joint

What patients should do regularly after hip replacement surgery is to exercise the muscles around the hip joint. They should follow the program recommended by the doctor and physical therapist so that the muscles around the hip joint become healthy and can function normally faster.

Take care of the health and underlying diseases

The important thing that patients must do before and after hip replacement surgery is to always take care of their health and medical conditions to prevent complications after surgery and to be able to return the hip joint to normal function quickly.

Hip prosthesis is made of medical synthetic material. It can be safely in the human body with usability over ten years.

What are the benefits of hip replacement surgery?

The benefits of hip replacement surgery are that it helps patients relieve hurt or pain from the deterioration of the hip joint, walk normally without feeling hurt, move their hips well without stiffness, and give a normal length balance back to their legs in cases with hip osteoarthritis on one side. Hip replacement surgery is the most efficient and effective solution for patients with severe symptoms or severe hip deformity, helping them return to their normal movements as before and live their daily lives more happily.

After hip replacement surgery, patients may need a support device in the first 1-2 weeks.

What are the perks of undergoing hip replacement surgery at kdms Hospital?

Patients receiving hip replacement surgery at kdms Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, will be given care by medical professionals specialized in bones and joints with advanced technologies. Also, patients can issue their concerns and special needs with our doctors to be worry-free before undergoing hip surgery, and receive post-surgery follow-ups until getting back to normal.

Frequently asked questions about hip replacement surgery

Those who are looking for information about hip replacement surgery may have related questions that express their worry or concern unanswered. Therefore, we have compiled three frequently asked questions about hip surgery for everyone as follows:

When will I be walking after a hip replacement surgery?

Patients can walk immediately after undergoing hip replacement surgery, but they may need to use a support device for the first 1-2 weeks because the muscles around the hip joint are not completely healthy. After that, the patients can live a normal life or almost 100% normal.

How long does a hip prosthesis last?

Based on data accumulated worldwide, it has been found that a hip prosthesis may have a lifespan of up to 30 years, or over in some cases. In addition, today’s medical development has become so advanced that there is a chance to make hip prostheses more durable. However, 10-20% of the successful patients may experience problems with their hip prosthesis and require revised hip surgery. The causes include accidents like falls or improper movements that severely affect the hip joint, weight gain, inadequate care of health conditions and underlying diseases, and various complications. These factors may reduce the lifespan of the hip prosthesis.

Can a hip prosthesis harm the body?

Hip prostheses are harmless in our body because they are made of safe synthetic materials that have been developed for a long time so that they can be used well with the human body.

Hip replacement surgery is a treatment for hip osteoarthritis that shows clear outcomes after surgery. It is commonly used in patients who cannot be treated by other non-surgical methods. Hip replacement surgery at kdms Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, uses robotic-assisted surgical technology in hip replacement operation to increase the accuracy of hip replacement surgery. Robotic surgery is not as scary as it seems because this technology will shorten the surgical time with accurate calculations, resulting in patients having faster recovery and returning to nearly normal movement. Our care aims to regain the ability to live normal daily life at full efficiency without worry for our patients.

An article by Napon Sinthuvanich, M.D., Experienced Orthopedic Surgeon (Knee and Hip Replacement Surgery)

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