At the age of 25, any young boy would think of building a career, marriage or a beautiful life that lies ahead. However, Devinder Singh from Chamba,who is just married, has gone through a Total Hip Replacement surgery.Suffering from AVN (Avascular Necrosis), which is largely caused due to drug or alcohol addiction, surgery was the only option for him. Nowadays,youngsters are progressively suffering from this disease and need hip replacement at a very young age, informed Dr Jatinder Singla, Joint Replacement Surgeon, Mayo Super Speciality Hospital, Mohali.
First time
“This is first time in tricity that after a total hip replacement a patient could even squat due to MDM DUAL MOBILITY Tri Polar THR. Normally after THR (Total Hip Replacement) we do not allow patient to sit in squatting position because of high risk of joint dislocation in this position of extreme flexion at hip. But in Indian scenario people have life style which
needs squatting very frequently for agriculture work, for milking the cows,Indian style toilets etc. After conventional THR all these activities were not allowed. A lot of people from villages suffering from hip arthritis were not ready to accept this restriction after THR and were continuing tobear pain. But now we can offer relief to everyone ,” said Dr Singla
Alarming statistics
“Earlier it was Hip Arthritis that was the major reason behind AVN and a patient had no control over it. However, now AVN is being caused by addiction and is not a result of one’s destiny! The number of patients that we are operating here are big-time addicted of steroids, which they use for building up their bodies or those who have high alcohol
intake from a very early age. Such patients and are not even ready to quit post the surgery. We are operating 5-10 youngsters aged between 20 to 30 years every month. It’s a huge number in terms of spread of the disease and it’s quite alarming,” shared Dr Singla.Drug addicts are increasingly lining up inside hospitals for hip replacement surgeries, necessitated by the ill-effects. Joint pains are common in people aged over 50 years, but these youngsters come crippled because of the easy availability of drugs. They consume all types of drugs and it directly affects their hip-joints, which refuse to work after a few years.
What is AVN?
Avascular necrosis (also osteo-necrosis, bone infarction, aseptic necrosis,ischemic bone necrosis, and AVN) is a disease where cellular death (necrosis) of bone components occurs due to interruption of the blood supply. Without blood, the bone tissue dies and the bone collapses. If avascular necrosis involves the bones of a joint, it often leads to
destruction of the joint articular. Proposed risk factors include,chemotherapy, alcoholism, excessive steroid use, post trauma, caisson disease (decompression sickness), vascular compression, hypertension, vasculitis, arterial embolism and thrombosis,damage from radiation, bisphosphonates (particularly the mandible), sickle cell anaemia and Gaucher's Disease.