A couple of Qs

[1jt@atime]

Josephine,
I've been posting over on the knee side but I have a couple of hip questions. To update you, I had a bad car accident 20 years ago and the ball of the hip was severely pushed through the joint. I was crunched up like a bag of potato chips. I am lucky to have had an excellent surgeon that put me back together with the help of about 25 screws and 5 plates. My surgeon today tells me what a great job he did. Of course arthritis has set in and I will face replacement of this hip sometime soon. I also need the knee on this side replaced soon. Here are my Qs:

Q1. I need to have this leg shortened by about 1 inch (25-30mm). Do surgeons normally shorten the leg with the hip or knee replacement?

Q2. I have a couple of screws in the greater trochanter. (I looked that one up) Have you seen surgeons cut below this part of the femur when replacing the hip since it seems obvious you couldn't put the replacement in with the screws in the way and it would seem the bone would be weakened if the screws were removed. Does this make sense? Would they have to custom make a joint????

As you know/are learning, I have a LOT of ortho problems and I know my doctor will answer these questions but I wanted to get any input you could share. Still got some ankle Qs for you down the road. Thanks! Karen

 

[Josephine]

Q1. I need to have this leg shortened by about 1 inch (25-30mm). Do surgeons normally shorten the leg with the hip or knee replacement?

Ensuring parity of length is a criteria in these operations, jt. Of course, it may not always be possible to totally correct if the difference is great at the start but he will address the problem to the best of his ability, rest assured. Plus the femoral prostheses have a range of sizes including neck length to help him make appropriate adjustments.

Q2. I have a couple of screws in the greater trochanter. (I looked that one up) Have you seen surgeons cut below this part of the femur when replacing the hip since it seems obvious you couldn't put the replacement in with the screws in the way and it would seem the bone would be weakened if the screws were removed. Does this make sense? Would they have to custom make a joint????

Indeed it does make sense and you may banish all worries on this score. It is very common for us to meet with this scenario, very common indeed! And the place where the screws were will then be infilled with the metal prosthesis so even if there was any risk of weakness it would be well supported. Any remaining holes will very quickly fill up with new bone anyway, so don't worry about that either.

I do hope you new hip will be the start of a nice new life for you. Sounds like you have been through the mill.

 

[1jt@atime]

Thanks for the input Josephine. I've got so much going on and so many questions. I had a compound tibia fracture on the opposite side which made the leg shorter. I've been walking around with the leg length issue for a long time and now my back is bothering me because of it.

Thanks for easing my mind a little. Karen