Hip surgery is a major event that only slightly makes it more bearable knowing the device will provide mobility for 15 to 25 years, most of the time. But when something goes wrong, as it does in about 5 % of patients, hip revision surgery is even more painful, and less bearable.
As a South Carolina hip replacement lawyer , I know how frustrating it must be for patients hoping for a renewed life with a new hip device, only to learn that the product is failing much higher than the normal rate. That’s what happened to patients with the DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System, which had a failure rate of 12-13% in the first five years.
There are many complications and lower success yield with hip revision surgery. That’s why it’s so important to have a South Carolina DePuy hip recall attorney on your side.
Here are the steps of hip replacement surgery:
- The surgeon makes an 8-10 inch incision along the side of the patient’s hip and moves the muscles aside to expose the hip joint.
- A surgical saw is used to cut through the thighbone so the ball portion of the old hip can be removed.
- The ball portion of the implant is attached to the thighbone with cement or another medical adhesive.
- The surgeon smooths out the surface of the hip bone and prepares it for a new socket.
- The new socket is attached to the hip bone in the same manner as the ball portion to the thigh bone and the two parts of the implant are united to create a functioning joint.
- A temporary drain may be placed at the area to control post-surgical accumulation of fluid.
- The muscles are reattached to the top of the thigh bone and the incision is closed.
