Arthroplasty

Arthroplasty (literally "change of a joint") is a class of orthopaedic surgicalprocedure aimed at replacing a diseasedor painfuljoint surface with something better. Originally this often meant interpositional arthroplasty with interposition of some other tissuelike skin, muscleor tendonto keep inflamedsurfaces apart or excisional arthroplasty in which the joint surface and bone was removed leaving scar tissueto fill in the gap.

For the last 40 years the most successful and common form of arthroplasty is the surgical replacementof a damaged or diseased joint or joint component with a prosthetic jointor joint components. For example a hip joint that has been affected by osteoarthritis may be replaced entirely (total hip replacement) with a prosthetic hip. This would involve replacing both the acetabulum (socket) and the head and neck of the femur. The aim is to relieve pain and improve function (walking, gait).

Reasons for arthroplasty include:

• avascular necrosis
• rheumatoid arthritis
• osteoarthritis
• unstable joint
• joint dislocation
• joint trauma

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthroplasty Wikipedia article Arthroplasty.