Patient is a 55 year old female who came in with severe pain. Patient explained that three years ago she had an intertrochanteric fracture of the left hip and an Open Reduction Internal Fixation (ORIF) performed by an outside institution. She stated that she had been in increasing pain since then without much relief.
The patient’s hardware from the ORIF procedure had failed and was causing the patient’s pain. The patient was instructed to have an aspiration of the left hip and blood work to rule out infection.
The results came back negative and the patient was advised that the best option would be to remove the hardware and to have a right Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA). All options and alternatives were discussed with the patient, along with all benefits and risks associated with the procedure. The patient had chosen to receive the THA.
Patient came in post-operatively with no pain, good range of motion, and was weight bearing as tolerated. Patient has been doing well subsequently.
In some cases, the approach to the hip joint may require cutting off a part of the upper femur (greater trochanter) for better access to the hip joint. The cut greater trochanter is reattached to the femur using a trochanteric plate which may also fix with the femoral prosthesis.
*Patient identifiers and dates changed to protect patient privacy.