Complications – Archives

• Minimal-Friction Hip Replacements - Maximize The Durability!
  Friction is the resistance encountered upon rubbing one object against another. Friction forces are important in everyday living. For example, friction between road and footwear helps in walking without slipping. Friction on the other hand can also cause havoc. Friction forces in hip replacement implants are detrimental to the longevity of the implant; undue friction can eventually lead to implant failure. The resistance between the femoral head surface and the acetabular surface is the main culprit of wearing out of artificial hips. Minimal-friction hip replacements are sought with the aim of decreasing the harmful process.
  Author: Dr. Bharat Sharma - Date: 21/06/2005



• Hip Replacement Complications - Know Your Risks!
  All surgeries carry certain risks to your health; the patient and the surgeon are the best people to decide the pros and cons. Hip replacement complications can occur during operation also. If the surgeon is not careful, they may unknowingly damage the blood vessels or harm the sciatic nerve which passes in close proximity to the hip joint. While preparing the hip for an implant, there is a risk of cortical perforation and fracture. The hip replacements can cause inequality in leg length that may require special management.
  Author: Dr. Bharat Sharma - Date: 08/03/2005



• Loosening Hip Replacements - Who Is The Culprit?
  Interplay between the various extrinsic and intrinsic factors in the body consequently lead to loosening hip replacements. Osseo-integration between implant and host factors generates an interface, which helps fix the artificial hip implant and prevent a loose hip replacement. Any factor disrupting the formation of this interface between the bones forming the joint and the artificial implant leads to loosening of the replacement. These factors may vary from the physiological state of the patient to the surgical technique applied during the replacement surgery, from post-replacement activity level to the type of material used in the artificial hip implant.
  Author: Dr. Bharat Sharma - Date: 08/03/2005



• Hip Implant Risks - Prevention Better Than Cure
  As every coin has two faces, surgery also has certain advantages and drawbacks associated with it. Likewise hip replacement surgery also carries certain hip implant risks. Besides the risk of infection and loosening, majority of revision surgeries are endangered with dislocation. The hip is a ball and socket type joint with the femoral head accommodating into the acetabular socket. This framework for replacements are stabilized by many ligaments, muscle tissue, cartilages and soft tissue; that prevents the head of the femur from dislocating out of the acetabulum during movements. In hip implants and replacements these structures are weakened, thereby making the hips predisposed to dislocation. Certain conditions have increased tendency of a hip implant risk. The risk of hip implants or replacements being dislocated is more in revision surgeries and malpositioning of hip replacement implants. Patient conditions also contribute to complications and hip implant risks.
  Author: Dr. Bharat Sharma - Date: 08/03/2005



• Replacement Hip Debris Wear - Particulate Foes Of Implant
  Any two surfaces in close contact tend to brush with each other during movements and release minute particles of the constituting material. The same is applicable to the surfaces in a hip implant. During activity at the hips, the femoral head surfaces slide closely with the acetabular cup surface. The resulting friction between the moving surfaces of the implants progressively generates microscopic replacement hip debris wearparticles. All the materials used in hip implants wear out, releasing wear debris, but the rate differs with each type of material.
  Author: Dr. Bharat Sharma - Date: 22/01/2006