RE: BHR vs THR - Western Australia

[Guest guest]

I heartily encourage you to stay with this message board -- daily. Read

the stories and ask questions. I, too, was told the very same thing about

hip resurfacing when I first went to a local surgeon. I'd already " heard "

of resurfacing and asked him. Whew! He was more than dismissive of it.

Turns out that he didn't know much. I also encourage you to visit this

site: www.GrossOrtho.com Dr. Gross (US) is the surgeon who did my

procedure. His web site has this fantastic animation of a THR and a

resurfacing. (It's really cool...). Anyway, I had my hip resurfaced in

Feb of this year and I'm doing fine. Do they last?? The data seems good.

The anecdotal evidence is great. Seems to me that the " failures " are not

at all due to the implant, but rather to infection and/or bone

deterioration of one sort or another. I fully expect my implant to last as

long as any THR implant would last. In the meantime, I still have my femur

intact, almost no worries of dislocation, absolutely no joint pain, and --

generally have my life back. If the resurf " fails " then I still have the

option of a THR. If your original THR fails -- well then you're in for

revision surgery and that ain't fun! Others will respond with all of the

technical responses you could hope for. I got out of that local surgeon's

office as fast as I could. Really began to look into resurfacing. And

there was no question about it... I am SO glad I chose the resurf. Bye

the way -- there are folks who post here who are from Australia -- you'll

be hearing from them. Joyce (Dr Gross, Left Hip Resurfaced, 2/2/04)

sungold518@...

BHR vs THR - Western Australia

Hi there, I'm new to the forum and thought I'd run a few questions

past the collective brain's trust to get some current opinions on a

few things. I'm sure these questions have been asked a million time

before, but here they are anyway.

I am a reasonably healthy 36 year old male who lives in Western

Australia and I have advanced OA in both hips. I have lived with

this condition for many years and has got to the stage where

something needs to be done.

I have sought the advice of 2 of the leading orthopoeadic surgeons

in my area who have both advised me against BHR and pushed me

towards the more traditional ceramic THR path. They say the BHR is

an unproven technology and should be approached with extreme

caution. When I have put forward the purported advantages of a BHR,

they warned me to be wary of the marketing of new products and to

approach my 'investigation' in a clinical manner and 'don't believe

everthing you read'.

Everything I've read seems to indicate that the BHR would be the way

to go for me (young, healthy, active), but the experts clearly say

otherwise.

Has anyone of a similar age to me (36), had either a THR or BHR and

what were your opinions and outcomes?

Any recommendations for an Australian, or even better still, a West

Australian surgeon who performs these operations?

Thanks for reading this, any advice would be greatly appreciated as

I am getting more confused by the minute.

Cheers.

[Guest guest]

Hello fellow West Aussie

I read your recent post with interest ... and have had very similar

(and frustrating) experiences with advice from surgeon's here in the

west.

I concur with your belief that BHR is the way to go, based on all the

wonderful experiences we read about on this msg board. I have been a

member for 3 or 4 months now, and avidly read the postings.

A little about me .. I am a 46 yr old, former a-grade squash player

(until 18 mths ago), when I was diagnosed with severe OA in my right

hip. I have had to put squash " on hold " ... but very keen to return

once this " problem " is remedied. I have visited many people for

advice including a sports med specialist and two orthopaedic surgeons.

In Sept 2003, in line with a recommendation from my sport's MD, had

an arthroscopic procedure performed in the hope of it 'buying me some

time' before a THR or BHR. The surgeon was not keen to perform the

procedure, suggesting my hip was " too far gone " .... but I managed to

plead my case and the procedure was performed. It did help the

problem of the hip frequently catching / locking .... but I am far

from a condition that I am happy with.

Since Sept 03, I have been to many, many physio sessions, supervised

pilates, hydrotherapy, deep water running and only recently (on the

advice of a head orthopaedic surgeon) to the gym. Although feeling

improvements, on any day where I choose to garden, for example, or

stand for prolonged periods,I suffer.

In Jan 04 I decided to proceed with inquiries in WA wrt BHR ... and I

have had the same response as you ... BHR is too new, unproven,

you're too young, just adjust your lifestyle, etc, etc. From what I

have learnt, there are 4 surgeons performing the BHR in WA .. I know

one person (an ex footy player - 45yrs) who has had the BHR done ...

but that same surgeon was very reluctant to perform the same

operation for me .... basically, he has " gone shy " of the procedure,

with a 2 or 3 " unhappy customers " out of around 150. He would rather

stick with the " tried and true THR " .

I have not quite abandoned WA .. there's 1 more person on my list ...

but my thoughts are heading east ... I have some contacts in

Melbourne squash circles, and there is a surgeon there who has

included on his list of happy customers no other than former world #1

Geoff Hunt (both hips).

Having read this, perhaps you'd like to talk one-on-one. Just contact

me via the email dwilliams@... and I would be more than

happy to exchange some notes.

Kind regards

Dianne .