1 reply to this topic

[Martythemutt]

Hi I'm searching for more information regarding the Girdlestone Surgery. Has anyone had this done? Which is hip surgery moving the hip bone.l hope someone can help. cheers

[Frank]

Hi Marty,

I have had this surgery. I am a 50 year old male T7 complete paraplegic. I apologize in advance for the length of my reply. I hope you can learn something from my experience.

After my injury I developed Heterotopic Ossification. This is uncontrolled bone growth in a joint or joints usually the hips. The way that it was explained to me is that when you break a bone it triggers a process in the body to repair the bone in the area of the break. When it is finished with the repair it stops the bone growth in that area. For some unknown reason, in a very small percentage of spinal cord injury patients, the body starts to grow bone in the joint area and doesn't stop.

They can tell if the bone is actively growing if the alkaline phosphatase level in your blood is abnormally elevated. In my case, I was told that it was not a good idea to perform the girdlestone procedure while the bone was actively growing. the decision was made to try and stop the bone growth with radiation. After several weeks of radiation treatments the bone growth seemed to slow down but didn't really stop.

I had to go ahead with surgery because I could no longer lie flat on a bed or sit up straight in my wheelchair. Similar to another poster in a different thread, I was of the opinion that this was some sort of Frankenstein procedure that would leave me horribly disfigured. It was that opinion that led me to have the doctor try and remove the excessive bone growth around the hip joint without actually removing the head of the femur itself.

The surgery went well and the recovery time was approximately 2 months. The reason for the excessive length of the recovery time is because, as a paraplegic, my hip would not be able to withstand the trauma of transfering which I do quite a lot. Within 1 year of that surgery the hip joint grew back together and fused solid. That is why I would not suggest trying what I did the first time.

I went back in for the Girdlestone. He removed the head of the femur and approximately 3 to 4 inches of the femur itself. He literally chiseled out as much of the bone as he could. Part of the procedure is to detatch a portion of the quadracep muscle and fold it back over the femur. This prevents "pistoning" of the femur into the empty hip socket and makes for a more solid "joint". I had this surgery over 16 years ago and it has held up very well indeed! No problems at all.

The bone never stopped growing. I can feel the bone formation in my pelvis and hip area but it has not grown back together. Unfortunately the bone in my other hip has now grown enough to inhibit the joint movement to a point where I can no longer lie flat or sit in my chair properly. I am currently looking for a surgeon to do a girdlestone on it. The procedure should be able to be done by any qualified orthopedic surgeon who has done hip replacements.

So there you have it. I could not have survived these past years without the surgery and I am very glad I had it. I know it sounds horrible and to a person that can stand or even partially walk, I can understand how having a 4 inch difference in the length of one leg could give you body image issues, however, for a person in our situation i.e. sitting all the time, it really isn't that noticeable.

I hope this has been helpful!
Good luck,
Frank