This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Early, low postoperative complication rate seen with total and resurfacing hip surgery
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
BERLIN — A database study of elective total hip arthroplasty and hip resurfacing surgeries showed a significantly low mortality rate in the first 90 postoperative days, reported an investigator from the United Kingdom at the 13th EFORT Congress 2012 here.
“Three percent have medical complications. The overall mortality is very low,” Axel Weusten, MD, from the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough said during his presentation.
However, lowering chest infection rates is important. “That is the most common complication … That’s the true killer,” he said.
The abstract showed a lower respiratory tract infection rate of 0.60% and that about 12% of these patients died.
 Axel Weusten |
Weusten and colleagues studied 256,013 total hip arthroplasty (THA) and 27,314 hip resurfacing surgeries performed from March 2005 to March 2010 and listed in the U.K. National Health Service database. They correlated the procedures with corresponding mortality data contained in the Hospital Episode Statistics database within the next 90 days for the patients. Hip resurfacing patients were younger than the total hip group, which had a mean age of 67.7 years, according to Weusten.
His team looked for codes that indicated deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, lower respiratory tract infection, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular events and acute renal failure in the 90-day post-hospitalization period. They subdivided the individuals studied by their Charlson morbidity scores.
Overall mortality rates in the study were 0.44% in the THA group (1,116 patients) and 0.06% (17 patients) in the resurfacing group within 90 days of the procedures, he said.
|
|
The Charlson score of 0 in patients younger than age 75 years worsen dramatically starting after the age of 75 years, mostly due to increased rates of chest infection. Weusten said this information is helpful in consenting patients who are at risk of the complication for the procedure.
He said the study’s main limitation was that the conclusions were based solely on available data, which were limited in quantity and quality.
Reference:
- Jameson S, James P, Sanders Rd, et al. Medical complications and 90-day mortality following hip resurfacing and total hip replacement in the English NHS (2005-2010). Paper #12-4959. Presented at the 13th EFORT Congress 2012. May 23-25. Berlin.
- Disclosure: Weusten has no relevant financial disclosures.