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An orthopedic surgeon has spoken out about the hidden dangers involved in hip replacement surgery after complications from the ‘routine’ procedure were blamed for causing the deaths of two high-profile Australians in the same week.
Cardinal George Pell, 81, died on January 10, while ARIA Hall of Fame singer Renee Geyer, 69, died on January 17 after complications resulting from their respective ear replacement surgeries. hip.
Elective hip surgery is one of the most common procedures in Australia, performed around 52,000 times a year.
And while it’s an extremely common procedure, Clinical Associate Professor Andrew Leicester, who performs around 200 hip replacement surgeries each year at Bowral Orthopedics in Sydney, said problems could arise even if the patient is in good health.
“It depends on the general health of the patient, but it is a generally safe procedure,” Dr Leicester told Daily Mail Australia.
Complications from hip replacement surgery were blamed for the deaths of George Pell and Renee Geyer (pictured, stock)
Hip replacement surgery became commonplace in the 1960s, but doctors have made leaps and bounds in the safety of the procedure ever since.
“Most clinics will have what’s called a pre-admission clinic, which patients typically attend about two to three weeks before surgery,” Dr. Leicester said.
‘They’ll do a lot of blood work, an EKG, you’re usually evaluated by an anesthetist. If you are a high-risk patient, you may be referred to a cardiologist for evaluation.
“In general, it is a safe procedure, but there are risks with any anesthesia, even for a five-minute operation.
“Particularly if someone has heart problems, it’s not even the surgery’s fault, it’s the anesthesia.”
General anesthesia, which puts the patient into a state of “controlled unconsciousness,” can cause serious problems with the patient’s heart, even in otherwise healthy patients.
This is because the depressant qualities of anesthesia, which puts the person to sleep, can lead to cardiac depression and hemodynamic instability.
“In the 1960s, patients only received general anesthesia, now they receive a localized spinal anesthetic along with a light general, which makes it much safer,” said Dr. Leicester.
Cardinal George Pell (pictured), 81, died due to cardiac arrest following hip surgery after years of heart problems that led to the placement of a pacemaker in 2010.
The Vatican announced on the morning of January 11 that Cardinal Pell had died of cardiac arrest following hip surgery, after having had heart complications for years.
Cardinal Pell’s heart problems resulted in him being fitted with a pacemaker in 2010.
A study found that of the nine causes of death after hip replacement surgery, eight were heart-related.
Just six days later, on January 16, Geyer’s family and music label, The Mushroom Group, confirmed the singer’s death after her own hip replacement surgery.
While Geyer’s specific cause of death has yet to be released, she admitted in her autobiography that she had “died three times” and needed to be resuscitated due to drug overdoses throughout her life.
It was also revealed that Geyer was battling lung cancer at the time of his death.
“From what I can gather, both Pell and Geyer had underlying issues. With most deaths, there are other issues to be attributed to,” said Dr Leicester.
While the specific cause of death for Renee Geyer, 69 (pictured), has not been determined, she passed away following problems related to hip surgery following a lifetime of drug abuse and a cancer diagnosis.
Data from the Australian Orthopedic Association showed that mortality rates in the 30 days after hip replacement surgery dropped from 0.26 percent in 2003 to 0.06 percent in 2017.
While the percentage is low, it still translates to around 31 deaths per year.
However, urgent hip replacement surgery has a much higher 30-day mortality rate of nearly 8 percent, according to Professor Jacqueline Close, Principal Investigator at Neuroscience Research Australia.
Although the procedure is considered one of the safest in the world, complications are rare but not impossible and potential dangers such as blood clots and infection are minimized with proper post-operative care, Professor Close said.
“Advances in patient care have made surgery much safer than it was 30 years ago,” said Dr. Leicester.
“But there are risks with every surgery, there are risks with taking an aspirin.”