Chances of stem cell hip surgery 'very slim'

6:00am Saturday 17th May 2014 in News By Melanie Adams, Health Reporter

IT IS a revolutionary new operation that uses a 3D hip printed from a machine.

But the chances of you having hip surgery using the state-of-the-art implant and stem cells is very slim - according to a Southampton expert.

Only a minority of hip replacement patients will have access to the sophisticated technique that was pioneered at Southampton General Hospital this week.

It is the first time that doctors and scientists in the city have done hip surgery using a 3D printed implant in combination with bone stem cells graft.

It is hoped that the new titanium hip, which was designed using the patient's CT scan and state-of-the-art technology, will last longer because it has been made to fit the patient's exact measurements.

Meryl Richards, from Hampshire, who has had hip troubles since she was involved in a traffic accident in the 1970's, was the patient to receive this revolutionary hip.

Vitali Goriainov, a clinical registrar working at the University of Southampton, told the Daily Echo that the operation offers an alternative for the most complicated of hip patients, like Mrs Richards who has had several operations on her hip but still suffered excruciating pain.

For these patients the surgery, which was conducted by Douglas Dunlop, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, is now available and the hospital already has two more patients lined up for the operation.

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Chances of stem cell hip surgery 'very slim'