State-of-the-art hip surgery available at PMC

By JOSHUA BALL

Managing Editor

PIKEVILLE – More than 200,000 people across the United States have hip replacement surgeries each year. Unfortunately for some, this is a long process that requires lengthy rehabilitation and recovery.

Hip replacement surgery candidates now have a unique, noninvasive choice when it comes to this procedure.

Pikeville Medical Center is the only hospital in the region to offer the innovative Anterior Hip Replacement surgery. Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Kevin Pugh has gone through extensive training to offer this state-of-the-art surgery procedure to his patients.

"This procedure significantly cuts the time of recovery and allows patients to get back on their feet more quickly," Dr. Pugh said. "Our goal is to offer world-class care, and it really doesn't get any better than this when it comes to hip replacement surgery."

The Anterior Hip Replacement procedure offers many benefits to the patient: less pain; reduced hospital stay; smaller incision (4 to 5 inches as opposed to 10 to 12 inches) and faster recovery (2 to 8 weeks as opposed to 2 to 4 months).

Anterior Hip Replacement surgery allows the surgeon to reach the hip joint from the front of the hip as opposed to the lateral (side), or the posterior (back) approach.

This allows the hip to be replaced without detachment of muscle from the pelvis or femur during surgery. Surgeons can simply work through the natural interval between the muscles.

"This technique will allow our patients to recover more quickly and achieve a more active lifestyle following hip replacement," Dr. Pugh said. "By avoiding muscle detachment, patients are able to perform more normal activities without the restrictions placed by traditional hip replacement surgery."

Pikeville Medical Center recently purchased the state-of-the-art hana® Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Table, the only devise capable of performing this world-class surgery.

With its unique capability to position the leg, the hana® enables the surgeon to replace the hip through a single incision, and the table allows hyperextension, adduction and external rotation of the hip for femoral component placement – a positioning option not possible with conventional tables.

The lack of disturbance to soft tissues provides immediate stability of the hip after surgery. For more information on the procedure, please call Pikeville Medical Center's Orthopedic Physician Practice at (606) 432-1547.

<< back to news