Testing New Hips

Reported January 30, 2009

Reported January 30TROY, Mich. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- More than 150,000 people will have a hip replacement this year. Most are living in so much pain that they have trouble walking. Current hip implants only last 20 years, leaving many people needing more surgery. Now, researchers are working to create longer lasting hips.

Paul Giles twists, lifts and bends in ways most would probably think is difficult; but just a few months ago a workout in the gym was impossible for Gile.

"No running, no bike riding," Giles recalled to Ivanhoe. "I'm a young father and I can't participate."

Gile is one of the growing numbers of 40-year-olds who needs hip resurfacing, or a hip replacement. The trouble is hip implants are made to last only 15 years.

"Probably two or three times a week I'm re-doing something that's worn out," Donald Knapke, M.D., an orthopaedic surgeon at Beaumont Hospital in Troy, Mich., told Ivanhoe.

Dr. Knapke performs 600 hip replacements a year at Beaumont Hospital. It's one of the only health care facilities in the country using a 12-station hip simulator to measure wear and tear on the implants.

The results are recorded daily on a computer, showing the effects of five years of walking. That's five million steps, and it does it all in just three months.

"What we are going to get out of this data is how long the hip is going to last, how long it's going to wear, and what the potential effects are to the patient by having this in the body," Jacob Shorez, a research engineer at Beaumont Hospital, explained to Ivanhoe.

Because of research like this, implants have moved from plastic to longer-lasting ceramic and metal

"If we have new ideas, we'd rather try them on a hip simulator rather than just put them into a patient and find out later that it wasn't a good idea," Dr. Knapke said.

Gile's hip surgery was a success.

"It's my goal to be a better athlete at 50 than I was 20 years ago," he said.

Hopefully his hip will keep up with him.

In the next phase of the study four out of 12 implants tested by the simulator will be tested in people. The latest study out of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago says complications from hip implants were more frequent in women of all ages and in men over 65.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Brian Bierley, Public Relations
Beaumont Hospitals
(248) 551-0740
bbierley@beaumonthospitals.com
https://www.beaumonthospitals.com, 2009