Joint replacement
New procedures, improved implants, and more sophisticated surgical techniques are creating a quiet revolution in the area of joint replacement. The orthopoedic surgeons at Saint Joseph’s Hospital are doing things today in joint replacement that weren’t imaginable even three years ago. Saint Joseph’s is recognized as one of the top 50 US hospitals for joint replacements and has the highest volumes for these procedures in the region. New procedures and prosthesis for rotator cuff tears for those patients facing shoulder replacement surgery are making a significant difference in recovery and movement post-surgery.
These new procedures performed at Saint Joseph’s not only relieve chronic pain but also allow full arm and shoulder movement—usually 100%. Minimally-invasive total joint replacement—now accounting for 50% of all orthopedic surgeries performed at Saint Joseph’s—has been shown to speed both surgery and recovery times for many orthopoedic patients. This represents a major improvement on the surgical intervention procedure used for more than 20 years.
The most obvious difference in minimally-invasive Total Hip Replacement (THR) and Total Knee Replacement (TKR) surgeries is the incision, which measures 3-5 inches instead of 8-12 inches. This decreases the amount of muscle that is cut, resulting in less trauma to the body, a quicker recovery and smaller scars. Additional benefits include less time in surgery, less risk for the patient, less blood loss and a reduction in the hospital stay from four or five days, for a hip replacement, to one to two days.
Another exciting new development at Saint Joseph’s is the female joint replacements being done here. Saint Joseph’s surgeons are able to use prosthetics that are not only specifically sized to fit the female, but shaped to mimic how a woman’s knee works with, for example, more flexion built into it. Saint Joseph’s was one of the first orthopoedic departments to begin using the “female only” knee. Today, 90 percent of Saint Joseph's female patients receive the “gender specific” knee.
For more information on orthopaedic services, call 1-866-661-ORTHO or 1-866-661-6784. 
