Super path or minimal invasion op in the uk
Posted , 14 users are following.
**morning. This time last year due to the NHS crisis last winter i had my hip replacement cancelled and for various personal reasons was unable to have it done at all last year.
unfortunately my hip has got so much worse this year and my mother in law has very kindly offered to pay privately and has suggested the new minimal invasion surgery as i was a dancer and would very much like to be able to continue to some lower level. . does anyone have experience of this op and anywhere they could recommend for the op?
thanks
0 likes, 68 replies
RichardKen heather78265
Posted
The most important decision regardless of the approach is your choice of surgeon rather than the approach. Base it on records and not if you like him or her. In the end assuming competent surgery the recovery period and what you can do will be dependent on several factors:
Your fitness and general health prior to your surgery how positive you are and how much work you put in on the exercises and a bit of good luck. Both my original hip replacement over twenty years ago and the revision eighteen months ago were a complete success and botb done using the posterior approach. I live a perfectly normal and active life and do not have any feeling of having had surgery!
Be aware that when you go for the anterior approach which is often promoted as a quick recovery procedure there is a far greater incidence of nerve damage than the tried and tested posterior approach. Nerve damage can have long term pain issues.
cheers, Richard
heather78265 RichardKen
Posted
so much to consider!!
MrsHoppy heather78265
Posted
hi, I am 5 weeks post op and had the op done at Leeds Nuffield through Bupa by a surgeon called Jon Conroy using a robotic assisted method. am having good physio and am walking unaided (as of today). only got 1 crutch in the car incase i ache but I feel confident that I wont. can drive short distances. had posterior approach so had some muscle trauma. I would definately recommend finding a surgeon who specialises in robotic assisted surgery. Nuffield site has a blog about it I think if you Google jon Conroy's name. good luck x
heather78265 MrsHoppy
Posted
i have been considering a nuffield more local to me . i live in milton keynes and the nearest hospital
offering this op is leamington spa. i will enquire whether they offer a robotic method
MrsHoppy heather78265
Posted
i think the robotics part is only available in London, leeds or Manchester but I may be wrong. def worth looking at though for the benefits it gives.
RichardKen MrsHoppy
Posted
I would be interested in knowing how a robotic approach with regards to a total hip replacement benefits the patient over the more conventional method or. methods. Cheers, Richard.
ptolemy MrsHoppy
Posted
I know it is available in Bournemouth besides Leeds plus the Royal Orthopaedic at Stanmore and hopefully should be available everywhere at some point. I think they cost around £200,000. It does make the surgeon's hand much more accurate. It must be really good for a less experienced surgeon. I discovered you can also see your op on a screen which appealed to me. There is also a new hip that is supposed to be good for athletes that is supposed to guarantee no hip dislocation.
MrsHoppy RichardKen
Posted
Hi, its all to to with precision in placing the new joint. theres podcasts by jon conroy on the nuffield website. definately not used by less experienced surgeons as suggested by others! would wholeheartedly recommend people to research! x
RichardKen MrsHoppy
Posted
Having watched the video it seems clear that this is an aid to help a surgeon line things up but that the outcome is still very dependent on a skilled surgeon.
A hip replacement is large scale surgery unlike for example ankle replacement surgery so I do not really see it as being a make or break must have aid. Hip replacement surgery generally has a very good record of success when carried out by an experienced surgeon so that to me is the key to a successful outcome. Cheers, Richard
ptolemy RichardKen
Posted
It seems the advantage is that the robot nudges the surgeon's hand for more accuracy if it is a bit off, as the robot also holds a scalpel. I believe we will have a lot more robots in the future. I think we will have the situation where a surgeon can be in one country and operate on someone in another country. I understand that the hip op is actually a bit slower with a robot. I also think AI will take over from GPs in the future.
RichardKen ptolemy
Posted
Thanks for you input, welcome ad usual! You may well be right about the future but given an experienced surgeon I would far prefer to rely on their skill in real time that a robot that relies on a range of parameters that have been uploaded for a relatively straight forward procedure like a total hip replacement.
In the case of my recent total ankle replacement revision, computer modeling was carried out in the US and on the basis of this I was marked up and measured up by my surgeon and modifications made to the prosthesis a few weeks before the six hour surgery. The surgery has been an outstanding success and this strikes me as being an excellent use of computers in surgical procedures. Cheers, Richard
ptolemy RichardKen
Posted
I probably would not mind having a surgeon helping the robot! I am sure it will happen though. When you hear of some of the errors made on this forum even, it should be good news. Once the robot has got it right it will not forget things. I have seen the Da Vinci robot, where the surgeon sits a distance from the patient. Apparently one problem with robots is that the surgeon can't actually feel what they are working with, which is quite important for some ops, but I think they have even addressed that. I think for a robot to do a hip op with a surgeon's help would be pretty complex, looks like orthopods are not redundant yet.
ptolemy MrsHoppy
Posted
Is the robotic system only available for posterior hip ops at the moment? I assume as time goes by it will improve on everything.
MrsHoppy ptolemy
Posted
i had the posterior approach, not sure if robotics is available for the other approaches. It is only used by the more highly skilled surgeons at the moment. surgeon operates the robotic arm. wound was glued rather than clips and my surgeon used a dressing that was clear which wasn removed, it was waterproof so I could shower straight away and the dressing dissolved over about 3 to 4 weeks. can hardly see the scar.
ptolemy MrsHoppy
Posted
I had a spinal and no sedation and at the end of the op the surgeon asked if I wanted the dissolvable stitches or clips, I hadn't a clue but said dissolvable! One person in my ward had clips and when they were removing them bits of flesh came off with them!! I had a waterproof dressing and was able to shower in hospital which was fantastic. I found at home I was able stand in the shower with no seat which was good too, I sort of leant against the glass side. I had oral anti coagulants rather than having to inject which was quite a relief.
robert88575 ptolemy
Posted
Robotic arm assisted surgery is available for anterior approach as well ...
ptolemy robert88575
Posted
I suppose it is a matter of programming the robot as to what to do. I am sure in the future it will become a lot more sophisticated.