Replacing Both Hips At The Same Time - Is It Safe?

Main Category: Bones / Orthopaedics
Article Date: 05 Jun 2009 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Research published on 1st March 2009 investigates whether 'simultaneous bilateral sequential total hip replacement (THR) would increase the rate of mortality and complications compared with unilateral THR', for both low and high risk patients.

Bilateral THR has potential advantages over unilateral THR because it involves one operation, which reduces costs and total rehabilitation time, therefore the authors were keen to discover if operating on both hips at the same time was more dangerous for patients in different risk groups.

The research followed two groups of patients over a 10 year period and concludes that while patients with 'bilateral THR required more blood transfusions and a longer hospital stay', there was no significant difference between the peri-operative mortality and rate of complications between the two groups.

Read the full text article.

Source
The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery