JOINT REPLACEMENT:
GETTING IT RIGHT A PATIENT’S CHOICES INCREASE THE ODDS FOR A SUCCESSFUL JOINT SURGERY.
W
hile no operation has a 100 percent success rate, it’s worth asking some key questions in advance of orthopedic surgery to help ensure a good outcome. Between 3 and 4 percent of hip and knee surgeries are revisions—surgeries performed to compensate for problems with the original operation—according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. A major part of planning is deciding where you’ll have your procedure done. “Whether you are contemplating having a surgery for the first time, or whether things haven’t worked out correctly from the original surgery, you want a medical center that has the ability and personnel to fix whatever issues you have,” says Frank Liporace, MD, the new Chair of the Department of Orthopedics at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Here, Dr. Liporace offers his advice for people considering joint surgery.
What misunderstandings do people have about orthopedic surgery? Some people think the surgery is debilitating, that the patient is in great pain afterward and prohibited from living his or her regular life for a long time. None of that is true. Now, enhanced pain management protocols enable us to keep people’s discomfort under control without the use of narcotics. Advancement in surgical techniques means the pool of people we can treat has greatly expanded, and the materials used to make joints have much more longevity than they did even a decade ago.
Healthy Together
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Winter 2021
12/10/20 12:35 PM
