THR After Resurfacing

[Guest guest]

All,

I am following up on a post that I made about 7 weeks ago.

I posted long notes that last time, so I will try to keep this as

brief as possible.

In 1970, I was diagnosed with a grade 4 SCFE. After 32 years of

limping and 3 years of severe pain, I had decided it was time to do

something about it.

After much research and a great deal of thought, I decided to

proceed with a resurface as opposed to a THR. During my pre-op exams

I was told that I may not be a candidate for the procedure. Since my

femoral head had deformed to a mushroom type shape due to the SCFE

and I had limped for so long, I may not be eligible to be

resurfaced, that I have to be prepared to wake up with a THR. I was

ok with this since I trusted my Dr. and knew he would do what he

felt was best.

So, on the morning of 9/6/02, I was wheeled into the OR. After a 4.5

hr operation, I woke up with a new C2K resurfaced hip. Part of the

reason the operation took so long was that my hip was fused in the

socket and needed to be chiseled out. They couldn't get it to

dislocate the way they are normally dislocated.

Besides for the pain immediately post op, I was very happy that I

received the C2K and was on the road to recovery.

Things were going well. I was pain free and was going to the gym on

a regular basis.

Four months post op, my leg started to bother me. I felt as though I

had strained the muscles from my cardio routine at the gym. I posted

a not about this at the time. Two days after my leg started to

bother me, I went to the Dr. to have it checked out. My worst

nightmare had come true. The femoral neck had fractured and caused a

failure of the C2K.

Two days later, on 1/18/03, I had my C2K resurface component

converted to a MoM THR. Since the cup side was ok, they did not have

to do anything there. They just had to insert the stem and install a

48mm ball, which was the same size as the resurfaced head.

Well, there is life after resurfacing. I am almost 7 weeks post op

and getting back to normal. I start back to work tomorrow.

Although I had hoped to get much more than 4 months out of my new

C2K, I am still happy that I did it and would do it again, under

the same circumstances. I am still a believer of resurfacing and

would recommend it to anyone, as long as they are considered a good

candidate.

My Dr. and I concluded that I was probably on the extreme end of

being a good candidate. Since the bone was so deformed pre-op, my

femoral head probably accepted loads differently and wasn't strong

enough to really work with the resurfacing components.

I have read different posts of people who seem to search for the Dr.

that gives them the answer they want to hear. Even if they are told

they are not a candidate for the resurfacing, they search to find

the Dr. that tells them that they can do it. This is something that

I would not do or recommend to anyone else, but to each their own.

Well, I have rambled on long enough. Good luck to all out there that

are resurfers, THR's or prospective patients.

Regards,

AndyS