July 14, 2014 - If you were implanted with one of the recalled Stryker hip implants, you may have suffered serious injury from the defective implant and are now facing a Stryker Rejuvenate revision surgery. After experiencing problems with your original hip implant device, you are probably concerned about choosing a surgeon for your Rejuvenate revision surgery—a surgery that is much riskier, more expensive and requires a longer recovery period than the original hip implantation surgery. In fact, finding a qualified surgeon can be extremely difficult; for every five surgeons that perform total hip replacement surgery, only one performs revision surgery.
Stryker Rejuvenate Revision Surgery—Risky and Expensive
As many as 55,000 patients in the United States undergo revision surgery each year to replace a hip implant which has loosened, become painful, infected or dislocated, or is causing chromium and cobalt to build up in the body to alarming levels. The goal of revision surgery is to relieve pain, restore mobility and remove an implant which could be releasing dangerous levels of cobalt and chromium ions into the patient’s body. In some cases, even when revision surgery is warranted, the patient’s surgeon may be hesitant to perform the surgery due to advanced age or overall physical health of the patient. While all revision surgeries are risky, Stryker Rejuvenate revision surgery is perhaps the riskiest and most complex type of revision surgery.
Why Removing a Rejuvenate Stem is Particularly Dangerous
Stryker Rejuvenate revision surgery can be risky. The stem of the Rejuvenate is particularly long, and is placed deeply into the femur during the original implantation. During revision surgery, the Rejuvenate stem must be dug out of the femur; some have likened the process to removing rebar from cement which has set up.
The revision surgery process can last as long as five hours, leaving the patient exposed to excessive blood loss, nerve damage and infection. In some case, while the surgeon is attempting to remove the Rejuvenate stem, the femur bone can shatter, confining the patient to a wheelchair until a surgeon can reconstruct the femur and implant a new hip implant device. Patients who undergo Stryker Rejuvenate revision surgery can be in recovery for six weeks or longer. This can leave the patient unable to work or perform day-to-day activities for an extended period of time. The dislocation rate for patients undergoing revision surgery is also much higher than that of the original implantation surgery—as high as 7%, overall.
How We Can Help
We understand having a revision surgery on a newly installed Rejuvenate hip implant may be more difficult than a revision surgery on a 10-year old hip implant. Your Rejuvenate device is coated with a hydroxyapatite porous coating, which is meant to encourage bone ingrowth, meaning the stem may have become firmly affixed to the femur. Improper technique during your revision surgery could result in a shattered femur and the necessity for additional surgeries. Having a surgeon who has performed a significant number of Stryker Rejuvenate revision surgeries will maximize your chances of a successful outcome. It’s important to choose a doctor with knowledge in these types of revision surgeries. Please contact us today for more information.