Product Liability Lawyer Blog

May 6, 2015

A Look at Minimally Invasive Hip Replacement in Boston

Boston’s PBS affiliate, WGBH, recently featured a program showing what it is like to be in the operating room during a minimally invasive total hip replacement surgery. Traditional methods involved making a 12-inch incision along the side of a patient’s hip and dislocating the hip joint from the pelvis. This method, still used in patients over 60 and who have other health issues, requires patients to stay in the hospital for days or even weeks and undergo a slow and painful recovery process. The large incision also increases the risk patients will develop a serious infection following surgery.

With minimally invasive techniques, only a six-inch incision is needed at the top of a patient’s hip, and dislocation is not required in many cases. This means a patient can typically go home that same night and sleep in his or her own bed. This also means there will be less pain during recovery, less risk of an artificial hip failure, and less time away from work or one’s other daily routine.

The reason doctors are able to perform a minimally invasive total hip replacement surgery is though the use of modern technology. It all begins with surgeons and radiologists working together to take a CT scan of the patient’s pelvic area while he or she is in the operating room. Doctors then use a computer and the CT image to make a three dimensional virtual model of exactly how the operation will work. There is an electronic signaling device used to guide the surgeon while he or she is watching a monitor while the movements occur inside the patient.
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May 2, 2015

Obesity and Knee Replacement Surgery

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Many doctors tell overweight patients suffering from knee problems that being obese is a major contributing factor to their joint damage. This is the same information that doctors have been telling their patients for decades and should come as a surprise to nobody. However, many patients are already dealing with enough joint deterioration to need a total knee replacement procedure sooner rather than later.

A recent news article from U.S. News and World Report takes a closure look at this issue. One patient interviewed for the story was 60-years-old and was in need of a total knee replacement procedure. She was retired as a schoolteacher because her severe arthritis made it virtually impossible for her to do her job. She could not walk up and down the building’s three flights of stairs any longer. She had no cartilage left her in one knee by that point. She was experiencing bone on bone friction every time she walked.

She said she was always overweight since she was child. As an adult, she spent years trying to a find a surgeon who would be willing to perform a total knee replacement while she was obese. She was told to have bariatric surgery, lose weight, and come back for another consultation. She was not willing to have bariatric surgery, due to all of the dangers she had learned about the procedure.
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April 29, 2015

Total Hip Replacement Surgery for Young Patients

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

When we think of total hip replacement surgery, we typically think of older patients. Many times, a hip replacement is needed to treat years of pain caused by increasing osteoarthritis.

In some elderly patients, more commonly women, a fall can result in a broken hip, which is often treated with hip replacement surgery. However, hip replacement surgery is not only used on elderly Americans. Sometimes hip replacement surgery patients are much younger.

According to a recent news feature from Health Line, hip replacement surgery is commonly performed in young patients who suffer from juvenile arthritis. More specifically, physicians are using it to conditions known as juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), which is a form of arthritis that can occur at any age (most commonly young patients) and is caused by an autoimmune response. These conditions can be treated with a total hip replacement, as would be done with patients in their 60s and 70s. But the problem lies with the expected lifespan of the artificial hip implant.

Under normal conditions, including wear and tear from for ordinary use, an artificial hip implant, if designed properly, will last around ten years, though sometimes longer. When a patient is around 70 years of age, the lifespan of the hip is similar to the lifespan of the patient, so this does not present a significant problem. It is not as if a properly constructed artificial hip will simply fail all at once. Rather, years of wear will make it become loose and start to cause pain to the patient.
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April 22, 2015

New Alternatives to Total Knee Replacement Surgery May Prevent Complications

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Each year, more Americans are choosing to undergo total knee replacement surgery than ever before. The surgery involves removing a patient’s deteriorated natural knee and replacing it with an artificial joint. The most common cause of knee problems leading to a total knee replacement is arthritis. Osteoarthritis affects millions of patients and typically gets worse as the patient gets older. The pain gets to a point where the patient can no longer stand it, and he or she elects to undergo a joint replacement procedure. There are other medical conditions that require a total knee replacement, such as sports injury or a serious accident, such as a fall.
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April 14, 2015

Plaintiff Demands $4.5 Million in Xarelto Injury Lawsuit

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news feature from the Madison Record, a woman in Texas is suing Bayer Pharmaceuticals AG, and its United States marketing partner Janssen Pharmaceuticals (Johnson & Johnson) for injuries she alleges was a result of her Xarelto prescription.

Xarelto is the brand name for a drug known as rivaroxaban. It is a member of a class of drugs known as New Oral Anticoagulants (NOACs). Patients who suffer from various medical conditions including atrial fibrillation (Afib) require an anti-clotting agent. If blood clots form, they can block the flow of blood, causing strokes and other serious issues. If a clot forms and breaks loose, it can travel to other parts of the body, such as the lungs, where it can cause serious internal bleeding known as a pulmonary embolism or PE. Until the creation and FDA approval of NOACs, including Xarelto, Pradaxa, and Eliquis, the most commonly used medication was Warfarin, which is the generic form of Coumadin.

While Coumadin is effective in treating Afib patients, it does require very frequent blood tests to monitor dosage, and patients must also watch their diets closely, as certain foods can alter the rate at which Coumadin is absorbed. If the dosage is off, the patient can have serious consequences including bleeding disorders.
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April 6, 2015

A Look at Knee Replacement Options

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news article from U.S. News and World Report, many patients have an option of choosing between partial knee replacement or total knee replacement, longevity or satisfaction, and standard or robotic-assisted surgery.

One patient interviewed for the article had knee replacement surgery on both his left and right knees. He is somewhat satisfied with the standard partial knee replacement he had around five years ago, and he is very happy with the computer-assisted/robotic partial knee replacement he had in his other knee around a month ago. He reports the second surgery had much a shorter and smoother recovery period.

While it should come as no surprise that medical technology involving hip replacement surgery has become more advanced in the past five years, this article demonstrates the vast number of decisions that must be made regarding this surgery.
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April 4, 2015

TESLA Singer Jeff Keith Undergoes Total Hip Replacement

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

While the need for a total hip replacement surgery sometimes results from an elderly patient suffering a broken hip or as result of a serious car accident, it is often the result of a patient living many years with severe osteoarthritis. At some point, it becomes so painful that cortisone shots and over the counter painkillers stop working, and patients decide to have their surgeons implant artificial hip joints.

According to a recent news article from Ultimate Classic Rock, TESLA singer Jeff Keith recently had his hip replaced, and the band had to cancel some upcoming tour dates where they were scheduled to perform with Def Leppard and Styx. A band representative says TESLA will be back on the road in time for their summer tour.

TESLA’s management said they had already cut back on the band’s touring schedule and cancelled some dates because the pain from the arthritis in Keith’s hips made it extremely difficult for him to continue performances. The band was faced with a need to decide quickly on what do with respect to Keith’s condition, and a decision was made for him to have a total hip replacement procedure as quickly as possible, which is what happened.
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April 2, 2015

Testosterone Ads as Propaganda for Fake Disease

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

In the last decade, marketing of testosterone replacement drugs has increased to astounding proportions. At this same time, sales of testosterone replacement therapy drugs have risen over 400 percent. These numbers certainly imply a causal relationship. What has not been demonstrated is any increase in the frequency of a very rare medical condition known as hypogonadism, which is the FDA approved reason for doctors to administer testosterone to patients.

The author of a recent article in Forbes believes these increased sales and marketing efforts is a result of a practice by the drug companies he called “disease-mongering.” The author looks how the slew of commercials during the news or live sporting events tells us testosterone hormone can help with a low libido, increase energy levels to where they were during our youth, and show healthy middle-aged men in the commercials. This trend, he says should be banned outright by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Essentially, drug companies and their respective marketing departments are trying to convince men that they go through what is equivalent to female menopause, and taking testosterone replacement drugs can help alleviate the symptoms.
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March 31, 2015

New Drug Therapy Aims to Reduce Knee Replacement Recovery Time

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

Even a successful total knee replacement surgery involves a long and painful post-operative recovery period. However, according to a recent feature from Med Page Today, this might not always be the case.

This article discusses a new medical protocol designed to do away with motor nerve blocks and reduce the use of opioid (narcotic) painkillers following surgery. With traditional protocols, doctors gave patients a broad-spectrum analgesic agent before surgery. This included a nerve block consisting of ropivacaine, as well as narcotic pain control drugs such as OyxContin, in patients who are younger than 80 years of age. In older patients, pregabalin was used along with aspirin, due to complications opioids can cause to elderly patients. During surgery, doctors administer additional medications, including tranexamic acid, multiple times.

Doctors will then administer a morphine-based pain killer through an IV. A femoral nerve catheter is used as nerve block and continued the day following surgery, along with a whole host of other medications.
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March 29, 2015

Total Hip and Knee Replacement Surgery Complications Worse for Men

by Jeffrey S. Glassman

According to a recent news article from Medical News Today, men suffer more complications resulting from total hip and knee replacement surgery than woman who undergo the same procedure. Both surgeries are used in patients with painful joint arthritis and joint deterioration.

While, in some cases, a patient has suffered an acute trauma to the knee or hip where the joint is actually broken, most patients get the respective surgeries after living for years with chronic pain, and it gets to a point where they can no longer deal with the discomfort.

Researchers discovered how men fair worse after having surgery than women. First, the study noted, while men typically have total hip replacement or total knee replacement at an earlier age than women, they are more likely to not only have increased pain, but need second or subsequent surgeries to address the complications.

The study examined data from patients who had total joint replacement procedures at a single hospital between 2002 and 2009. This included almost 100,000 patients, which gives us an idea of the vast number of people having total hip and total knee replacements each year. The numbers of women having the procedures was slightly higher than men, but the numbers where close to being balanced. The numbers also reflected an average age of female patients being 70 and the average age of male patients being 65, which is standard.

When examining post-operative data, researchers found men were around 15 percent more likely to go to the emergency room for joint replacement complications than women within a month following surgery. Men were also more likely to have a heart attack following surgery than women, and men were 50 percent more likely to need a second surgery within two years to deal with the complications.
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