Orthopedics This Week | February 16, 2016

ORTHOPEDICS THIS WEEK VOLUME 12, ISSUE 6 | FEBRUARY 16, 2016 10 The Rise (and Issues) of Anterior Hip Arthroplasty BY ROBIN YOUNG L iterally the same day Biloine Young, senior writer for Orthopedics This Week, was going under the knife for an anterior hip arthroplasty The Wall Street Journal was publishing a lead story touting the increased popularity of the same procedure. The Journal’s article (by Lucette Lagnado) described a single patient, a 54-year-old man (Billie Young is about 30 years older), receiving his anterior hip arthroplasty at the Hospital for Joint Diseases, NYU Langone Medical Center (Billie had her surgery at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota) and then walking on crutches down the hospital hall by 4pm the same day. Billie walked the equivalent of a football field the morning after her surgery. The Wall Street Journal’s patient left the hospital 6pm on the day of the surgery. Billie left the day after—30 hours after her surgery. Billie 1 hour before anterior hip surgery, Regions Hospital, St. Paul, Minnesota Courtesy of Arizona Public Broadcasting Is Anterior Hip Arthroplasty for Real? Remember the 2-incision hip? That was another technically challenging technique which promised same day hip arthroplasty. But those chal- lenges combined with too many readmissions put the 2-incision back on the shelf. The traditional hip arthroplasty approach—a posterior approach— gives the surgeon good visualization and reduced error rates. But it subjects the patient to significant muscle, tendon

Orthopedics This Week | February 16, 2016 | Page 10