Focus on arthroplasty - optimising recovery and outcomes

摘要

Arthroplasty forms the bulk of elective orthopaedic surgery work and phenomenal numbers of procedures are conducted around the globe every year some 50 years on from when Sir John Charnley performed the first low friction total hip arthroplasty in 1962. This has been followed by the further and continued development of hip prostheses and of other prosthetic joints - first the knee and, then the shoulder and other smaller joints. The impact of these developments on the suffering and disability of those who live with severe joint arthropathy has been little short of miraculous. From the days when hip arthroplasty meant a period of bed rest, slow mobilisation and a long stay in hospital, in some parts of the world it is possible to undertake knee replacement surgery without an overnight hospital stay at all - although the implications of such an innovation have yet to be fully judged.