SUPERPATH™ Hip Replacement
The recovery benefits of the anterior technique with the familiarity of the modern posterior technique.
Advances in surgical technology have improved the longevity and recovery time for total hip replacement. The latest advanced technology, a percutaneously-assisted “SUPERPATH™” approach, involves sparing the surrounding muscles and tendons when performing total hip replacement surgery. This technique builds a traditional hip implant in-place without cutting any muscles or tendons. Additionally, this is done without having to dislocate the hip during surgery, a common element to all other hip replacement surgery techniques.
The popularity of and considerable patient focus on minimally invasive hip replacement must be considered in terms of what is important. Hip replacement in its traditional form is superbly reliable. What is really important is to allow patients unrestricted motion after surgery and to allow unrestricted muscle strengthening after surgery. It is also important to be able to see and protect the major muscles around the joint and be sure that the components fit and are well seated, without breaking the bone. If this is accomplished, patients will recover rapidly and reliably.
The SUPERPATH™ hip replacement is a new technique using superior capsulotomy that allows for implantation of the total hip components under direct vision through a single incision. The technique allows recovery that is as rapid as a mini-posterior approach while conferring stability of the hip joint that is equal to other exposures that preserve the posterior hip joint capsule and short external rotators. This results in very rapid recovery with no restrictions. The advantages are:
- Shorter recovery times
- No activity limitations
- Less pain
- Decreased dislocation
- Less scarring
- More natural feeling hip
Additionally, this supercapsular approach can be easily converted to more widely used mini or standard approaches during the surgery. Thus, the incision is not forcing the surgeon to make compromises in the surgery, especially if reconstruction is particularly difficult.
While there are many ways to access the hip joint to perform a total hip replacement, this method is one of the safest and most efficient ways to preserve and protect all the important structures around the hip joint and to facilitate both early recovery and long-term function.
At the Bethesda Orthopaedic Institute, our team of experienced orthopaedic surgeons are here to help you get back to living! Visit our Find a Physician page to locate an orthopaedic surgeon on our Medical Staff.