New Advances

Minimally Invasive Joint Replacement Surgery
Minimal incision hip replacement uses the same prosthesis to replace the hip joint, but the surgery is performed in a way that requires only a three to five inch incision — a departure from the current 10 to12 inch incision. Some studies have shown that people who undergo minimally invasive hip replacement have an easier and less painful recovery, spend less time in the hospital, and have fewer complications. However, not all studies have reached this conclusion. More studies and longer follow-up are needed to evaluate minimally invasive techniques [2].

Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR)
Hip resurfacing first emerged as an alternative to hip replacement in the 1960s but fell out of favor because of problems with the polyethylene parts used at the time. A new generation of cobalt chrome caps and socket linings led to its re-emergence in the 1990s.

Although hip resurfacing has been used in Europe for many years, it is relatively new to the United States. The first hip resurfacing system was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006.

Gender-Specific Knee Implant
A gender-specific total knee replacement implant is a prosthesis that is specifically designed either for a male or a female. The size of the implant is slightly different to accommodate for the slightly different size of the bones between genders [3]. Currently, there is no data to suggest that creating a gender-specific implant design will help achieve the goals of better function or improved durability. Most orthopedic surgeons will tell you that implants already come in a variety of sizes that will accommodate almost any patient's anatomy.