Are you a candidate for Birmingham Hip Resurfacing?
If you suffer from painful hip arthritis in young or middle age and need pain relief, you will benefit by a Birmingham hip Resurfacing.
This surgical procedure is designed to conserve more bone than a total hip replacement. Rather the head is reshaped & resurfaced with  a metal cap. On the socket side, the acetabulum is scraped and fitted with a metal socket.
The Birmingham Hip Resufacing prosthesis got FDA approval in 2006. It has been used in India much earlier and has relieved many young patients of hip arthritis.
What is Birmingham Hip resurfacing?
This implant has two components. On the femoral side, there is a metal cup made of cobalt chrome with a central peg. On the socket side there is a metal socket made of the same material and coated on the outside with Hydoxy apatite. Hydroxy apatite resembles bone tissue. Fixation occurs by natural bony ingrowth into this coating.
Hip resurfacing relieves pain and restores normal function. Young and middle aged patients upto 65 years can benefit from hip resurfacing.

Indications for Hip resurfacing- If you have the following conditions you may be considered for Hip resurfacing.

1. Primary osteoarthritis
2. Early Avascular necrosis
3. Post traumatic arthritis

Advantages of Hip Resurfacing
1. Less bone loss on the femoral side
2. Less risk of dislocation
3. Better range of movements

Some risks of this procedure are
1. Femoral neck fracture
2. Metal wear particles can damage bone & soft tissues.
3. Metal ion elevation in blood and urine

Best candidates for BHR
1. Suffer from Osteoarthritis
2. Young than 60 years
3. Bone shape is normal
4. Bone density is normal
5. No cavities or cysts in bone
6. Limb lengths are equal

Men younger than 65 years with good bone stock are the best candidates. Women with favorable criteria like a big frame may be considered.

While Hip resurfacing is an attractive option, it is not a panacea for everybody. Patients with the following criteria are not suitable candidates
1. Poor bone denisty
2. Large cysts in neck
3. Short or abnormal neck
4. Large cysts in head extending beyond 30% of the head
5. Infection
6. Impaired or anticipated deterioration of kidney function ( Renal failure, Sickle cell disease)
7. Bony fusion
8.Unequal limb lengths
Women in child bearing age are not good candidates. Post menopausal women with good bone density can be considered.

Hip Resurfacing Procedure
You can get an appointment for surgery at short notice. Just e mail us at drvenkat@kneeindia.com.
You will spend about 5 days in hospital. By six weeks you would have returned to normal walking and activities.
You can see the recovery of Mr.Chris Browne, one of our previous patients from Greece in this video. You will be amazed by the flexibility & mobility on the first anniversary of his right hip resurfacing.

Video shows recovery after Hip Resurfacing surgery at 1 year.

Dr.Venkatachalam is one of the few surgeons who perform Hip resurfacing. He received training in this procedure at the Zimmer institute. Please see our patient testimonials for Hip resurfacing here.
http://www.hipsurgery.in/patient-stories/
Visit our website, Hip Surgery India

Your health travel trip to India for a hip resurfacing will save you thousands and give you an opportunity to see the ancient culture and traditions of South India.

Hip resurfacing surgery in India restores your mobility

People dread getting old. If you are Caucasian and approaching your forties, you may have already noticed that some of the things you did as a teenager aren’t that easy anymore. As a general rule, if you take care of yourself when you are young, getting old will be easier. Joint pains develop and progress to restrict your life style and stop you enjoying outdoor activities.
A lot of people will have to face as a part of the aging process one of those things is hip replacements for hip pain.

According to The National Institue of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases there are over 193000 hip replacements performed in the U.S. each year. In the UK, the numbers are about 5, 00000 per year.

Hip replacements have been the mainstay of treatment for hip arthritis. An alternative considered nowadays is a procedure called hip resurfacing. The main advantage that hip resurfacing has over a total hip replacement is the amount of bone removed. More bone is preserved in the top end of the thigh bone (femur) called the neck and head. During a resurfacing it is quite a bit less then the amount of bone that is removed during a total hip replacement. Is that a good thing or bad thing? It is a good thing because as a general rule a patient will recover quicker and go through less pain with a hip resurfacing then they would if they had a total hip replacement. Another advantage is that since the head size matches the natural size, there is little risk of dislocating your hip. This will give you a lot more freedom of activities.

When a young patient goes to an orthopedic surgeon because they are experiencing pain in their hip joints the doctor will more often than not try to put off surgery as long as possible. This is no longer necessary. Once the patient reports that the pain that they experience is beginning to limit their day to day activities surgery will be performed. However these young arthritic patients should understand that a hip replacement may have to be redone. This fact makes hip resurfacing a very viable option in younger patients.

The surgery itself can be performed in different ways. We use the approach from the side. Our incisions are quite small and measure about 7 inches. We prefer to keep the hip joint capsule in tact. Keeping the hip joint capsule intact is less damaging to the blood supply in the hip area and limits the risk of the patient dislocating their hip after surgery.

The surgery is performed by making a cut on the side of the hip.

The femoral bone is then dislocated from the hip. The head of the femoral bone is then shaped so that a new metal cap fits over the head snugly. This is then placed over the end of the bone and held in place by a pin & cement fixation. The hip socket itself may be left alone or a thin metal cup can be placed in the socket. To make room from that metal cup a reamer is used to remove the cartilage from the acetabulum and to shape the socket for the metal cup. The metal cup is pressed into the socket. Friction holds it in place until new bone grows and fills in the holes of the surface of the metal cup and attaches it to the bone.

The patient is generally released from the hospital 2-4 days after their surgery. Physical therapy starts almost immediately with a therapist helping the patient get out of bed on the very first day. Therapy progresses quickly with the patient walking around with crutches the second day after the surgery. The patient can expect to have physical therapy between 1-3 times a day while they are still in the hospital. Generally, the patient will be released when he or she is able to get out of bed, walk 75 feet with the aid of crutches or a walker, and is able to climb stairs.

If you are looking at having to have hip surgery, ask us at the Madras Joint Replacement center in India, whether or not you may be a candidate for hip resurfacing. If you are able to have your hip resurfaced over having to have it totally replaced, you will enjoy several advantages to a hip replacement.

http://www.hipresurfacingsite.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=493
Message from this article is that all Hip resurfacings are not equal.

Video testimonial of Grandon Benson from Seattle, Washington, USA. He underwent right Birmingham hip resurfacing by Dr.A.K.Venkatachalam of www.hipsurgery.in

Grandon Benson from Portland Washington had his Birmingham hip resurfacing surgery in India. After enduring 12 years of pain, he is relieved and able to walk normally.

Grandon had damaged his right hip in a car accident 12 years ago. Although it was fixed in the US, he developed arthritis. Like many baby boomers, Grandon didn’t want to lead a life of misery and pain. When he couldn’t get surgery back home in the US, he preferred Indian Orthopedic surgeon Dr.A.K.Venkatachalam to perform his right hip resurfacing.

Grandon underwent the Birmingham hip resurfacing procedure which is of recent vintage in the US.

He is recovering in hospital and will soon go to a resort for recuperation.

Recent reports in The New York Times, Journal of arthroplasty and others talk about the complications associated with metal on metal hip replacements including hip resurfacing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/health/04metalhip.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

American patient talks about his high value medical treatment in India. He received a Birmingham hip by Dr.Venkatachalam for a very affordable cost in Chennai, India.

The Birmingham mid head resection prosthesis is a new implant invented over a year ago by Dr. Derek McMinn. It is useful in those patients who are sold on the idea of a hip resurfacing but unfortunately don’t have enough bone stock in the femoral head.

After x rays, the surgeon can predict pre- operatively which patients are going to require a mid head resection resurfacing prosthesis rather than a Birmingham hip resurfacing.
These are patients with

1) Osteoarthritis with large cysts
2) Avascular necrosis > 40 %.
3) Perthes disease
4) Slipped capital femoral epiphysis.
In these cases the surgeon can go in for a BMHR rather than a BHR.

Particularly in AVN with large bony involvement, hip resurfacing is not possible. In these cases, BMHR is ideal as it behaves like Hip resurfacing but all diseased bone is removed. Yet more bone conserved during BMHR is more than a total hip replacement.

The prosthesis uses the same cup as  a BHR. On the femoral side, a modular head component fits onto a short conical stem confined to the neck of the femur.

BMHR surgery is very exacting. Dr.Venkatachalam got exposure in Australia for this surgery.