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State-of-the-art hip procedure

Long hospital stays after hip replacements may be something of the past. An operation, currently being performed in the UK, enables patients to walk a single day after the procedure.

After conventional hip replacements, patients usually have to be hospitalised for an average of eight successive days.

Old vs. new
BBC Online reports that the benefits of the new 2-Incision technique include shorter hospital stays (which has huge economic implications), smaller incisions and scars, reduced blood loss, faster rehabilitation and a quicker return to normal day-to-day activities.

The technique differs from traditional procedures in the respect that the replacement joint is inserted through two small cuts of between four and five centimeters, whereas conventional operations involved 30 centimeter incisions.

Extensive cutting of the leg and hip muscles is also necessary when traditional hip replacements are performed, while the muscles are moved aside during the new technique.

Patients need to be monitored
According to the BBC, experts are enthusiastic about the new procedure, but reckon that patients should be carefully monitored for several years after the replacement. – (Health24)

Read more:
Vitamin K has bone health benefits
Hip fracture epidemic on the way

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