HCM Cit​y (VNS/VNA) - Highly skilled doctors in Vietnam using advancedprostheses and techniques have improved the quality and success rate of hipreplacement surgery to a level as high as that of other countries.

Dr Tang Ha Nam Anh, head of the trauma andorthopedics department at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, told Vietnam News that techniques for hipreplacement had been developed in the country for the last 10 to 15 years.

Many new advanced hip replacement prosthesesare being used for serious intertrochanteric fractures, a break in theupper quarter of the femur bone, Anh said.

The patients with these prostheses, most ofwhom are elderly, are able to get out of bed after one day after surgery. “Twodays later, they can walk,” he said.

With existing traditional hip replacement prostheses, patients with thesame kind of fracture often have to repeat the operation within a year becauseof a loosened prosthesis, according to Anh.

“A second surgery is dangerous for thesepatients because of their age and they suffer from other diseases, which raisesthe risk of dying during surgery,” he added.

Femur and intertrochanteric fractures arecommon among seniors because of osteoporosis.

The fractures leave patients with prolonged immobilisation orinactivity, which can reduce function, including loss of motion of the lowerjoint extremities and muscle atrophy.

Prolonged bed rest can also lead to ulcers onthe body, which can cause serious infections that could lead to death.

In addition, prolonged immobilisation causesother complications such as pulmonary embolisms from deep vein thrombosis.

Anh said these fractures often occurred amongwomen because they get osteoporosis earlier than men.

Dr Pham The Hien of the trauma and orthopedics department at Nguyen TriPhuong Hospital said that every week at least one or two patients had hipreplacement surgery at the department.

Last month, the department used a newadvanced hip replacement prosthesis for a 75-year-old patient from HCM City whohad a serious intertrochanteric fracture due to a fall.

Anh said that many hospitals in the country,including district-level hospitals in HCM City, perform hip replacementsurgeries.

In February, HCM City’s District 11 Hospitalperformed its first hip replacement operation on a 98-year-old patient with abroken hip bone from Binh Thuan province.

Doctors at District 11 Hospital, Thu DucHospital and District 2 Hospital are trained by city- or central-level hospitalexperts.

Many training centres, including Nguyen TriPhuong Hospital and HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, provideinstruction in hip replacement surgery for local doctors to raise theirqualifications.

The training has improved the level ofeffectiveness, Anh said, adding that techniques used by the country’s doctorsare the same as those applied in other countries.  

Moreover, the price for hip replacementsurgery in Vietnam is cheaper than the same operation in many other countries,he added.-VNA