are lying flat on their backs, anesthesia providers and surgeons are
more comfortable performing the procedure using spinal anesthesia
and without having to intubate. Most traditional hip replacement sur-
geries are done with patients on their sides, which makes it difficult to
establish the airway in emergent situations. With the anterior
approach, the anesthesia provider doesn't have to give the patient as
much medication preemptively to secure the airway, and that means
patients will be ready to recover that much faster.
"There's an old surgical adage that says you can do whatever you
want to the bone as long as you respect the soft tissue," says orthope-
dic surgeon Tyler Goldberg, MD, of Texas Orthopedics. "If you don't
cut any muscles, patients will rehab twice as fast. They'll be off of
pain pills inside of a week. It's just night-and-day difference."
Recover + rehabilitate in style
Buffalo Surgery Center leases a 2-bedroom condo in a high-end apart-
ment building minutes from the surgery center. It is here, in the surgi-
cal recovery suite, where joint replacement patients spend the night
after surgery and have their first physical therapy session as well as
visits from a nurse.
Talk about your amenities. There's gourmet room service. Patients
get a private bedroom and walk-in shower. There's ample room for
overnight guests (family members are encouraged to stay with
patients at the suite). Patients also have access to an indoor pool, spa
and 24-hour fitness center.
Such luxurious accommodations are fitting, says Dr. Slover, because
most hip replacement patients don't feel sick. "They're healthy
patients motivated to recover faster," he says, "and they enjoy the abil-
ity to recover at home."
OSM
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