Grampian hip replacement patients to benefit from research funded by arthritis charity
HIP replacement patients in the Grampian region are set to benefit from a new research study carried put by doctors at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, a major Scottish centre for joint replacements.
The three-year project has been funded by leading medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign to the tune of £126,243.
The grant will enable consultant orthopaedic surgeons Patrick Ashcroft, Peter Gibson and their team to predict the failure of hip replacements much more quickly and effectively than at present, using a special x-ray technique established in Sweden.
Although hip replacements have a very high success rate and can last up to 15 years, some prostheses fail early because they become loose, resulting in the patient having to undergo a second, usually less successful revision operation.
"The techniques examined in this project offer the prospect of improved assessment and treatment for such patients in the future," explained Mr Ashcroft.
"Using clinical examination and routine x-rays, it takes more than ten years before badly designed prostheses can be identified – by which time many thousands may have been implanted. Now we want to assess methods that will allow much earlier prediction of such failures."
The new Swedish technique, called Roentgen Stereophotogrametric Analysis (RSA), can predict failure within two years. The Woodend Orthopaedic Department, which carries out more than 850 hip, knee, shoulder and elbow joint replacement operations every year, will be the only centre in Scotland to use RSA.
RSA will help the team to assess future developments in joint replacement, so that only the best can be selected. "If our work is successful, it will help predict the failure of hip prostheses, and provide early warnings of faulty design and technique," added Mr Ashcroft. " This will enable such prostheses to be withdrawn before large numbers of patients have had them implanted and require revision operations."
The research will be carried out in close collaboration between the departments of orthopaedics, radiology, bio-medical physics and the ARC Osteoporosis Unit.
The ARC has also awarded two grants to researchers at the University of Aberdeen; £117,853 to Dr Fraser Coxon for research into bone breakdown in arthritis; and £66,754 to Dr Michael Rogers to examine the actions of drug used to treat bone disease.
