Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/636774
Hip Surgery Tables and Accessories Their positioning abilities enable a less-invasive approach to joint repair. S urgical tables are expensive enough as it is. Why would a facility invest in one designed specifically for hip proce- dures? Well, ask yourself: Are significantly better patient outcomes important to you? These specialty positioning tables and attachments have, over the past decade, made the less-inva- sive, muscle-sparing anterior approach to total hip arthroplasty more possible and more accessible, to the patient's benefit. The anterior approach, also known as "direct anterior," enables a surgeon to replace the hip through a single incision without cutting muscle from the femur or pelvis, unlike the posterior approach (the predominant choice) or anterior lateral (which, according to ortho- pedic observers, leaves 30% of patients with a persistent limp). Less tissue trauma means less post-op pain, but it also leaves the hip sta- ble enough for early post-surgical mobility. A hip table "acts like a surgical assistant," says one industry expert, providing the leg hyperextension, external rotation and adduction necessary to expose the femur from the front, and it does so more safely, efficiently and reproducibly than can be accomplished by positioning and holding patients on conventional tables. If you're looking to upgrade your ORs for the anterior approach, here are a few factors observers say you should keep in mind when shopping for a hip table. • Accommodation. Is its weight capacity sufficient to support not just your patients (including the obese and muscular ones), but also the pressure that surgeons will be applying to the joint? Will its surface effectively pad patients against that pressure? Is its 1 3 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6 Thinking of Buying … David Bernard