This week I was able to see several interesting cases with Dr. Bostrom. One patient was diagnosed with hip dysplasia when she was 18 months old. She came in complaining of hip pain, and her x-rays showed that her hips had essentially fused, resulting in very little range of motion. The fact that on both sides her femoral head is fused to the acetabulum will make her hip replacement surgeries more complicated. The femoral head will need to be removed without causing structural damage to the acetabulum.
Another interesting case I saw was a man with a hip replacement who had had multiple infections, multiple dislocations, and multiple revision surgeries. The doctors had chosen to leave his hip dislocated as the best case scenario, and his implant had created its own acetabulum above his native one.
On Thursday I went to the ARJR Grand Rounds in the morning. Two of the surgeons participated in a debate about the pros and cons of the anterior approach for a hip replacement versus the posterior approach. It was perfect timing for me because in the past week many patients had been asking Dr. Bostrom if he used the anterior approach because it was less painful, and they would recover so much faster. He would then explain to them that the data shows very little difference between the two approaches in the first few weeks, and essentially no difference at the six week time point. It was interesting to see how much the media can influence a patient's view on their healthcare, and even push them towards something with very little added benefit simply because it's "new".
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