Early Hip Revision for Good Health is important for patients. Elective waiting list in England are on the increase.
Patients awaiting first hip revisions suffer with pain and immobility. If you wait too long for hip surgery, the surgery will be less effective. As your joint continues to deteriorate and your mobility becomes less and less. Your health will worsen (think weight gain, poor cardiovascular health, etc.) Patients who go into surgery healthier tend to have better outcomes than those who are already poorly.
Yet many patients with metal on metal hips are still waiting for hip revision surgery since the announcement in 2012 that there was a problem. The MHRA announced in June 2012 that patients implanted with these hips may “develop progressive soft tissue reactions to the wear debris associated with MoM articulations. The debris can cause soft tissue necrosis and adversely affect the results of revision surgery. The MHRA’s clinical orthopaedic experts are of the opinion that early revision of poorly performing MoM hip replacements should give a better revision outcome”.
The best outcome when advised of the option and risks/benefits of early revision surgery versus further conservative treatment is to proceed with revision surgery as soon as advised. Most people when they have an illness or disease seek treatment straight away. Yet with MOM revision there is a reverse logic. Patients are not treated by the NHS until it becomes absolutely necessary as the hip has deteriorated to such a degree. By this time however, significant damage has been done.
Early surgery aims to decrease the chance of further damage, return metal ion levels to normal and decrease any future complications. Although there are risks inherent in all operations, these are exacerbated by the greater degree of damage caused by the deteriorating hip.
Early hip revision surgery prevents catastrophic failure (pelvic discontinuity) of the hip secondary to adverse reaction to metal debris (ARMD). It prevents sciatic nerve injury and chronic neuropathy pain. Recovery is much quicker when a healthy patient has the hip revised rather than after serious hip deterioration. The aim of early hip surgery is to preserve full function and improvement of symptoms.
If you think you may have a claim for Early Hip Revision for Good Health then call us in confidence to discuss your issue. We are happy to talk through what has happened and advise you on a potential claim. Call us for FREE on 0800 470 2009 or email Dr Victoria Handley at vhandley@handleylaw.co.uk