News Articles & Items of Interest (under construction)

"The Times"
August 22, 2002

Provided by Terry Shooper, member of Surface Hippy chat group.


"A NEW WAY TO REPLACE THE HIP"
"Medical Briefing by Dr Thomas Stuttaford"


"There is little doubt that George Bush Sr and his wife Barbara
exemplify the ideal political couple. It is difficult for outsiders
to know which of the two is the driving force in the relationship.
But politics is not the only aspect of life they share. Their medical
histories, like their political outlooks, have much in common. Both
have suffered from an overactive thyroid and both have had hip
replacements."

"It is easy to see why their lifestyle and the tensions it produced,
may have triggered thyroid dysfunction. As both share a love of
healthy sport and the great outdoors, it is reasonable to assume that
their hips have had a pounding over the nearly 80 years they have
been alive."

"Within weeks of his hip replacement, Bush Sr was attending his son's
inauguration ceremonies, and walking so well that only the keenest
medical eye would have detected evidence of the surgery."

"In most orthopaedic departments, the hip is the joint most likely to
be so seriously affected by osteoarthritis that a total joint
replacement is recommended. The indication for surgery is that the
patient's life — domestic, social or professional — is so badly
affected by the pain and sleeplessness brought on by wear and tear in
the joint that lifestyle has to be drastically modified."

"To a retired man the quality of life may depend on his ability to
continue to play golf, whereas for those who are still working, it
may more obviously still depend on the ability to be able to stand
all day behind a counter or on a factory line."

"Recently the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), the
government organisation that determines NHS treatment, has
recommended that a comparatively new operation — hip resurfacing
(commonly known as the "Birmingham hip") — should be considered for
all patients younger than 55 who wish to be active in the years to
come."

"Mr Hugh Phillips, consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Norfolk and
Norwich University Hospital, and a member of the council and director
of professional standards at the Royal College of Surgeons , said
this of NICE's decision: "Early results so far appear to be
promising, although long-term results are still awaited. The data
available suggests that this treatment may well prove to be
particularly useful to younger, or more active, patients needing hip
surgery." "

"When a patient is 65 or older, there is a 95 per cent chance that a
new hip will outlast them. The search has been to find a hip
replacement that will stand up to the battering it gets from those
who are younger and want to continue to live an active life. If the
patient's only exercise is to walk across the road to the Parson's
Arms, most new hips could well have a life span of 15 years or more.
However, if some young senior cricketer continues to trundle down the
wicket each weekend, his new hip might last only a few years. NICE's
decision is designed to give surgeons another string to their bow
when dealing with these people."

"Patients usually first notice that a hip is destined to give trouble
because of stiffness in the joint, perhaps when they stoop to tie
their shoelaces or climb the stairs. The other predominant early
symptom is pain, which is felt in the groin, over the hip bone and in
the buttocks and thighs. If the joint continues to crumble, and the
pain consequently becomes worse, it may start to wake the patient at
night."

"Other troubles of which patients with osteoarthritis of the hips may
complain are the pain and stiffness that prevent them from carrying
on with their work, or, if they have given up work, problems that
seriously interfere with retirement activities."

"Bush Sr's doctor, like all those confronted by complaints of hip
pain, will not only ask about whether the ache keeps the patient
awake at night, but whether it is relieved by anti-inflammatory drugs
and whether a stick is needed to walk. The doctor will try to
discover whether the patient can carry out such simple but
fundamental tasks as doing up shoelaces and putting on socks, and, if
the hips are very stiff, whether they can use the oven, make the bed
and even make love. An arthritic joint, rather than impotence, is the
most common reason given for discontinuing a sex life."

"Fitting the Birmingham hip joint — or Birmingham hip resurfacing
device, or prosthesis, as it is technically known — involves
resurfacing of the diseased joint surfaces with artificial
replacements rather than removing the whole hip joint. As the two new
surfaces fitted to both the ball and the socket are metal, it
represents a return to the original concept of the metal-on-metal
artificial hip joint, with all the advantages that this can offer,
although now the metal is a high-tech chrome cobalt alloy."

"With the Birmingham hip, the postoperative dislocation rate of a hip
joint (one of the classically painful disasters to strike patients)
is only 0.05 per cent, compared with five per cent with conventional
hip replacements. Figures for the Birmingham operation so far show
that fewer recipients require further surgery; this is particularly
obvious in young patients who are overusing their joints."

"On average the operation takes half the time to perform, deep-vein
thromboses are reduced by 80 per cent, and 94 per cent of patients
claim a complete relief of pain after surgery."



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