Irén Tukacs’s Hip Replacement Surgery – With Dr. Szabolcs Gáspár

Author: Dr. Szabolcs Gáspár | March 21, 2022

Irén Tukács was suffering from severe pain due to hip joint osteoarthritis. The only solution was hip replacement surgery, but due to the long waiting list, she would have had to wait a year before the operation could take place. Irén’s daughter found the Budapest Private Outpatient Orthopedic Clinic, where hip replacement surgery is performed approximately 6–8 weeks after the initial examination. Irén was operated on by Dr. Szabolcs Gáspár, the chief orthopedic traumatologist at the private outpatient clinic. Learn about Irén’s recovery story—she now lives without hip pain and can perform all her household chores just as she did before.

Unbearable hip pain

Irén was experiencing extremely severe hip pain, which made it difficult for her to even walk. This made her daily life significantly more difficult. She visited her family doctor, who issued her a referral to the nearest hospital. Based on an X-ray taken there, it was determined that she would need hip prosthesis surgery to relieve the unbearable pain.

Long waiting list for hip prostheses

Due to the long waiting list, Irén would have had to wait a year for hip replacement surgery. Given her severe pain, that seemed like an awfully long time, so with her family’s help, she looked for another solution. Her daughter showed her a video in which Dr. Szabolcs Gáspár, an orthopedic traumatologist at the Budapest Private Outpatient Orthopedic Clinic, shared useful information about hip replacement surgery. Irén lives 280 kilometers from Budapest, but since they found the doctor likable based on the video, there was no question about whether to visit him. The doctors at the Budapest Private Outpatient Orthopedic Clinic perform hip prosthesis surgeries 6–8 weeks after the initial examination, so Irén had the opportunity to be free of her excruciating pain in a shorter amount of time.

Hip Prosthesis Video with Dr. Szabolcs Gáspár

You can also watch the video below to see the story of Irén Tukacs’s recovery. In the video, the elderly woman herself recounts her experience with hip replacement surgery and the subsequent rehabilitation. Dr. Szabolcs Gáspár, meanwhile, explains the details of hip replacement surgery from a medical perspective.

Hip Joint Osteoarthritis

Dr. Szabolcs Gáspár determined that hip joint osteoarthritis was the underlying cause of Irén’s symptoms and confirmed that hip replacement surgery was indeed necessary:

Irén came to see us in September for a specialist examination. We examined her, took X-rays, and the images showed advanced wear and tear in both hip joints.

He developed what is known as protrusion-related joint degeneration. This means that the femoral head has pushed into the acetabulum, and both articular cartilage surfaces—the one covering the femoral head and the one covering the acetabulum—have worn away. This led to the development of symptoms accompanied by such severe pain, for which hip replacement surgery is the solution.

Duration of hip replacement surgery with a hip prosthesis

At the Budapest Private Outpatient Orthopedic Clinic, the timing of the surgery depends largely on how quickly the preoperative examinations are completed. In private healthcare, this doesn’t take long. Hip replacement surgery can be performed approximately 6–8 weeks after the initial examination. Irén could have had her intervention as late as two weeks later, but she felt that was too soon, so the intervention took place a month later.

Preparing for Surgery

As with any surgery, a pre-operative examination by an internal medicine specialist and an anesthesiologist is required before hip replacement surgery. For patients without other internal medical or surgical comorbidities, the internal medicine evaluation consists of a comprehensive set of laboratory tests, supplemented by bleeding and coagulation parameters. In addition, a urinalysis, dental examination, ECG, and chest X-ray are required.

Many people are afraid of hip replacement surgery, but receiving thorough information helps alleviate those fears. Before her surgery, Irén focused solely on the fact that she would finally be free of her excruciating pain:

I wasn’t afraid at all before the surgery because I had decided that I had to get rid of this pain, and this was the way to do it. My wish came true—I woke up after the surgery with no pain at all.

Muscle-Sparing Hip Replacement Surgery

Dr. Szabolcs Gáspár performed the muscle-sparing hip replacement surgery:

This means that during surgery, we do not cut through the muscles around the hip, but simply move them aside to gain access to the hip joint capsule. As a result, rehabilitation can begin sooner after surgery, and recovery is faster.

We implanted a cementless prosthesis in Irén. The key feature of this type of prosthesis is that its surface is specially textured, allowing bone to grow onto it. For this reason, we do not use any bonding material between the prosthesis and the bone during the intervention. This type of prosthesis system can be implanted very quickly.

Dr. Gáspár does not use tubes (drains) in hip replacement surgeries like this to remove fluid or blood that accumulates in the surgical wound, as they are not necessary. Instead, at the end of the surgery, he injects a cocktail of medications into the tissues surrounding the prosthesis, which has effects on hemostasis and analgesia. This minimizes postoperative bleeding and significantly reduces the risk of infection.

Rehabilitation After Hip Prosthesis Surgery

After hip prosthesis surgery, the patient rests in bed that same day, but the next day, with the help of a physical therapist, they get out of bed and begin moving around with the aid of a walking aid. This is exactly what happened to Irén, who found that the previously severe pain in her left hip joint had practically disappeared entirely. She continued her physiotherapy at home.

Acknowledgments

Irén is very grateful after her hip surgery, and she feels it was well worth traveling 280 kilometers to see this reliable team of doctors:

Starting in the second week after my hip replacement surgery, I’ve been cooking lunch with the ingredients I have on hand, and I do almost everything around the house on my own. I wouldn’t have been able to do this before the surgery. For anyone struggling with pain similar to mine, I highly recommend visiting the Budapest Private Orthopedic Outpatient Clinic. I highly recommend Chief Physician Dr. Szabolcs Gáspár, as his attitude toward patients and his willingness to help are outstanding.