December 10, 2014 by Mark Hollmer
The American Joint Replacement Registry releases its 2013 annual report on hip and knee implants, with data that puts revision surgeries in better context.
The American Joint Replacement Registry‘s 1st-ever annual report on hip and knee implants underscores the relatively high incidents of problems involving hip replacement surgeries relating to malfunctioning implants.
Out of more than 43,823 hip and knee procedures performed in 2013, there were 1,510 hip revisions – just 3.4% of the total. Knee revisions came in at 1,367, or 3.1% of the total number, the AJRR found.
Those results point to revision surgeries as a relatively small number out of the total performed. But the AJRR’s look at revision surgeries from 2012-2013 involving implants 3 months old or less paints a different picture.
The most frequently reported diagnosis code for hip revision surgeries involved infection and inflammatory reaction to the implant (37.8% of the time). The next biggest complication centered on periprosthetic fractures, where a bone breaks around the implant (31.7%). After that, dislocation of the prosthetic joint was next biggest diagnosis for revision surgery (14.6%), then “other” mechanical complications of the joint implant” (8.5%) or “mechanical loosening” of the prosthetic joint (7.3%).
