A less invasive and less painful procedure performed by Stephan Yacoubian, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon on the medical staff at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, is allowing patients undergoing hip replacement surgery to recover faster and have less scarring.
Yacoubian performs this new technique by allowing a new hip (consisting of an artificial ball and socket) to be placed through a small incision three to four inches in length. Traditional hip replacement surgery can require an incision of 10 inches, thereby cutting into more of the patient’s tissue.
"Through less invasive surgery, there is less pain and less intrusion into soft tissue," Yacoubian said. "Overall, it’s easier for the patient to get back on their feet quickly and resume their regular daily activities."
About 250,000 hip replacement surgeries are performed each year on patients who suffer from osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that often strikes after middle age.
Kay Farquhar said the arthritis in her left hip was so bad, "it was bone on bone, and it hurt so bad just to step out anywhere."
Yacoubian had fixed Kay’s daughter’s broken ankle, and so Kay chose him to perform the hip replacement surgery. One day after her surgery last August, she was up walking. A month later, she was driving her car.
"It never occurred to me the surgery would be that simple, and it didn’t hurt much," said Kay, who lives in Burbank. "It was a miracle."
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