Study: Total Hip Replacement Helps Octogenarians Despite Risk

Elderly patients can successfully undergo a total hip replacement, but complications frequently do occur, according to a study reported in the May issue of the Journals of Gerontology.

Total hip replacements have been performed successfully in people in the final stages of arthritis for several decades.

However with life spans increasing and people remaining healthy and active well into their eighties, surgeons are now performing total hip replacements as an elective procedure in octogenarians.

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers sought to demonstrate the effectiveness of elective total hip replacement in patients aged 80 years or older in the final stages of hip arthritis.

Their study involved 46 patients aged 80 or older at the time of their total hip replacement surgery. Eleven patients (27.5 percent) suffered a medical complication and six patients (15 percent) had a hip-related complication, all of which were treated and were not life threatening.

Clinically, 80 percent of the participants were pain free and 70 percent walked without assistance about four years after their procedure. But four patients had to undergo a reoperation, and three of those surgeries were for recurrent dislocation.

"Elective total hip arthroplasty is a safe and effective treatment for end-stage osteoarthritis of the hip in the elderly patient," concluded the researchers. "However, the procedure is not without risk. Complications, often related to preexisting comorbidities, do occur, but mortality rates are low."

Other sources: Journals of Gerontology (Vol 58, Number 5, 2003:M468-471)