When patients receive a new hip or knee joint, then you want to know how long it will keep. A major study gives a reassuring answer: Eight out of ten knee prostheses, and six out of ten hip replacement, even after 25 years still in use.
Through an analysis of Thousands of case studies from six countries, researchers estimated the probable life – span of hip and knee prostheses. As they report in the journal The Lancet, were 93 percent of total knee prostheses, and 77 percent of the knee prostheses, in which only the damaged part of the joint was replaced, an average of 15 years of age. 90 percent of total knee prostheses, and 72 percent of the part-knee prostheses were 20 years old, and 82 percent complete and 70 percent of the part-knee prostheses were even 25 years old. Artificial hip joints have held for a long time: 89 per cent of them have lasted 15 years, 70 percent of 20 years and 58 percent 25 years.
Lead author Dr. Jonathan Evans, of the Bristol Medical School, said: "Due to the advances in technology and techniques in the last 25 years, we assume that the currently used hip or knee prostheses for longer." Hip and knee replacement are two of the most common and effective surgical procedures. But even in the best case they fail at some point due to infections, fractures, wear and tear or reactions on particles. Then, many of the patients require Revision surgery, which often lead to worse results than the first Operation.
For the analysis of data from six national joint replacement registries from Australia, Denmark, Finland, new Zealand, Norway and Sweden, as well as case series were examined. More than 200,000 cases of hip joint and almost 300,000 cases with knee prostheses were considered.