Correcting a painful problem with Total Hip
Replacement
THE CASE
A 65-year old man from Nigeria suffered a fracture along with hip
dislocation in a road traffic accident. He did not undergo any treatment
and kept walking on it for a period of 3-4 years. Over a period of time, he
developed a shortening of 3-4 inch in his limbs and eventually started
experiencing extreme pain. He had become very weak and inactive.
When he visited BLK to consult Dr. Mrinal Sharma, he was evaluated
and advised Total Hip Replacement as a lasting solution.
THE PROCEDURE
X-Ray of the patient’s hip joint showed a wandering acetabulum with
proximal migration of the femur. CT scan of the pelvis showed a large
and widened acetabular cavity with loss of postero-superior wall. The
surgery required reconstruction of acetabulum with bone graft. The
defect was of the size of a cricket ball. Dr. Sharma had to reconstruct the
defect in the posterior-superior wall of acetabulum with the autograft
(obtained from femoral head) and fixed it with two 6.5 screws.The defect
in acetabulum had to be filled with allograft procurred from the bone
bank.
A cemented cup was placed into the acetabular socket and an
uncemented femoral stem was placed in the femoral canal. The hip was
reduced and the limb length was restored.
THE RESULT
The intervention gave the desired result and the patient recovered
in the expected way. He is now pain free with a normal gait and has
returned to his home country as a happy man.
Dr. Mrinal Sharma
Consultant
Joint Replacement Specialist
BLK Centre for Orthopaedics,
Joint Reconstruction
& Spine Surgery
BLK Super Speciality
Hospital, New Delhi