Hip joint Osteoarthritis is a syndrome in which low-grade inflammation results in pain in the hip joints, caused by abnormal wearing of the cartilage that acts as a cushion inside if the hip joint. This abnormal wearing of the cartilage also results in a decrease of the joints lubricating fluid called Synovial fluid. Hip joint Osteoarthritis is estimated to affect 80% of all people over 65 years of age, in more or less serious forms.
The present treatment for hip osteoarthritis comprises NSAID drugs, local injections of Hyaluronic acid or Glucocorticoid to help lubricate the hip joint, and replacing parts of the hip joint with a prosthesis through hip joint surgery.
The replacing of parts of the hip joint is one of the most common surgeries to date performed at hundreds of thousands of patients in the world every year. The most common method comprises placing a metal prosthesis in femur and a plastic bowl in acetabulum. This operation is done through a lateral incision in the hip and upper thigh and through fascia lata and the lateral muscles of the thigh. To get access to the joint, the supporting hip joint capsule attached to femur and ilium of pelvis needs to be penetrated, making it difficult to get a fully functional joint after the surgery. Femur is then cut at the neck with a bone saw and the prosthesis is placed in femur either with bone cement or without. Acetabulum is slightly enlarged using an acetabular reamer, and the plastic bowl is positioned using screws or bone cement.
The surgery typically requires one week of hospitalization due to the increased risk of infection. The recovery process is on average about 6 weeks, but even after this period the patient should not perform any physical activates that places large strain on the joint.
It would therefor be desirable to have an operational method that could spare the hip joint capsule and reduce the removal of healthy femur bone. It would further be preferable to have a method of operating that could shorten the time for recovery of the patient, and reducing the amount of affected large blood vessels, thus reducing the risk of blood clots.