Southampton researchers lead major hip and knee replacement study
Researchers in Southampton are to carry out a major research study to find out why some people who have hip or knee replacement operations do better than others.
With the co-operation of 900 people who have undergone a hip or knee replacement, the team at the University of Southamption's MRC Environmental Epidemiology Unit hope to establish the best time for people to undergo surgery in order to get the best possible post-operative results.
The 18-month study is being funded by a £64,000 grant from the Arthritis Research Campaign.
"Hip and knee replacement surgery is very common - around 80,000 people have it done every year," explained Janet Cushnaghan, Research Fellow at the unit. "What we want to find out is whether people who have the surgery done early - before too much damage is done to the joint, do better after surgery, than those whose joints are very badly affected at the time of their operation.
"It might be the case that it's better to have the operation done earlier, as they do in other countries, rather than leave it until the arthritis is in a very advanced stage. If we can find this out it will determine the best time for people to have their surgery."
Joint replacement surgery in the UK is considered a last resort solution for knee and hip osteoarthritis, and is consequently most often carried out when the condition is in an advanced state. Long orthopaedic waiting lists also mean delays in surgery.
The team plan to contact 500 people who had hip replacements and 400 knee replacement patients who underwent surgery seven to eight years ago, and through questionnaires and sample interviews, find out how the new joint has performed over that time.
They will then examine X-rays of their joints taken at the time of their operation, to find out if radiographic evidence provided by X-rays can predict the long-term outcome of surgery.
