Delta Motion Hip Replacement

[dzr]

Hi,
I had a delta motion hip surgery done last June, by Dr. Bose and so far, I am very happy with it.  I have had no squeaks or other problems with it.  My hip is pretty much pain free and feels almost as good as it did before the damage caused by avn.  I had originally planned to get a BMHR, and during our discussion the night before surgery, Dr. Bose mentioned that if the avn extended down into the neck of the femur, a BMHR would not be possible and he would do the delta motion.  As it turned out, while I was on the operating table, he discovered that the avn did extend to the femur neck, requiring him to abort the BMHR plan and go with the delta motion.  I knew that the delta motion hip was a new product, but I put my trust in Dr. Bose, with his extensive knowledge and experience.  During our pre-surgery talk about the delta motion hip, Dr. Bose mentioned that the delta ceramic was a great improvement over the old ceramic.  He mentioned that he had taken a hammer and beat on a delta ceramic ball and when done, the delta ceramic ball was not dented, scratched, cracked or damaged in any way.  I was really impressed with Dr. Bose's opinion of the delta motion hip.  After I got home from the surgery, I discovered that there was a Youtube video about Dr. Bose's hammer session with the ceramic ball.  On the youtube web site it is listed somthing like "delta motion hip surgery rationale" parts 1,2, and 3.  The hammer treatment is on part 1.  Part 2 and 3 are a video of Dr. Bose doing a delta motion hip surgery on an actual patient.  These videos are very informative for anyone interested im a delta motion surgery (however a bit bloody and not for the squeamish).
     Also, Dr. Bose told me I had no restrictions.  However, when I mentioned working out on my tread mill, he said it would be ok to walk on the tread mill, but don't run on it.  It is my belief that impact activities like jogging or running are not a good idea since I have a stem type delta motion prosthesis.  On the other hand, my recovery has gone pretty fast. I was back to driving a car at 2 weeks post op. I was on the crutches for a few days, then started using my cane again.  By the time I was 4 or 5 weeks post op, I didn't need the cane anymore and retired it.
     All in all, I am very happy with Dr. Bose's surgery and and the delta motion hip and I really don't anticipate that I will have any problems with my new hip for many, many years, if ever.

John

R Delta Motion Hip --Dr. Bose -June 2011-  40 mm ball - 52 mm cup
   
 

[dzr]

Danny,
Thank you for your pleasant comments.  I have been contacted by others, about my experience with the delta motion hip and thought I should share my experience with the good  folks on this website. I hope this info will help others, as this website has helped me, in getting my hip fixed.
At almost 1 year post-op, I feel that I am doing great.  I hope your recovery is going well also.

John

R-Delta

[Dannywayoflife]

Please keep us updated John it will be interesting!
Danny

[mhiller]

Hi Deepika,
Dr. Bose also recommended a Deltamotion ceramic THR to me (I think).  He was rather vague and I wasn't sure if he was refering to my specific case or to women with hip dysplasia in general.  He mentioned that if one has a femur head smaller than 44mm he recommends Deltamotion THR.  I mentioned this type of device to Dr. Lannin in Palo Alto Calif. and he had never heard of it.  I wonder if one can only get the device in India?  I'm interested in it though and am still researching it as a possibility.  Let me know what you decide and why.
Thanks,
Martha

[Dannywayoflife]

Martha I'm pretty sure the delta motion is available here in the UK as well. I would suspect it's not available in the states as maybe it's not FDA approved?

[deepika]

Hi,
Thanks for sharing your experience dzr.  It gives me hope to go ahead. My surgery is on 12th July. I have decided to go ahead with Dr Bose’s suggestions and have Delta Motion hip. Will share my experience, once i am done with the surgery. I saw the videos mentioned above i skipped the surgery part but saw the part of hitting the delta motion with hammer.

Mhiller,
He suggested me this option because, I have a small skeletal structure. He says thin women this is the best option.

[Dannywayoflife]

Just watched the video where Dr Bose hits the delta ceramic with a 3kg lump hammer! Seriously impressive!!

[morph]

He hits it three times too. Also on Youtube you can see Mr Holland uses a large head Delta ceramic as a golf ball. Cannot be much good for his golf club.

Well in 3 days I will be a surface hippy or a delta dude. A BHR is first choice, but if not then a large head Delta motion. Time will tell.

[Dannywayoflife]

Morph good luck for 3 days time mate!

[morph]

Cheers Danny. I am feeling quite relaxed about it so far. You will probbably think I am a bit of a weirdo...lol,  but I am strangely kind of looking forward to it, can't work that one out myself.

Euro 2012 starts day after too. I will be cramming a few cold tins next to my ice packs to enjoy when I get out.

[hernanu]

Good luck, morph! I felt that way for the second hip, so maybe you skipped the first one emotionally and went right for the "it's going to be great" second hip attitude.

[Dannywayoflife]

Ha I don't think that's weird at all! I was really looking forward to my op before hand its the start of a new begining!

[morph]

Thanks hern, I think all the emotional stuff was got out the way years ago, it has had a slow draining effect. As time has gone by, over 10-12 years, gradually my limititations have increased and I have had to stop doing things I love one by one, it started with soccer. Roll on a new hip and new beiginning With my fitness levels at the moment though I think I will be more like Robo Cop than the bionic man. The other hip (right) has a bit of life left but sooner or later I will be a bilat man like you.

[hernanu]

No problem on that, morph. I can tell you from my perspective (only) that this is the best gift I've ever given myself.

I think as an adult so much time is spent on supporting others who deserve it in your life (family, friends, kind acquaintances) both at home and away, that we tend to discount what makes us happy. In the case of OA, I ignored it for so long and accepted the rolling tide of limitations that when I finally had the surgery, it was something that was just for me, although necessary. The reward is personal, although the benefits do flow out to those you love.

The accomplishment is getting out on the field or much more valuable, in life in good stead, with an amazing lack of pain. The fitness, everything else flows from that. I'm almost down forty pounds now, both balance and ROM coming back fine and a happy feeling from the moment my OA pain left.

[dzr]

Hi Deepika,
I just read your earlier posts and only then discovered your situation with the avn.  Since I have bilateral avn for several years now, maybe I could answer some of your questions.  My right side was much worse than my left.  My right femur head was collapsing in April, 2008.  I only discovered the avn and source of my pain in 2010.  (The doctors I had been seeing kept overlooking the problem).  In June 2011, I had a THR, delta motion hip done by Dr. Bose in Chennai, India.  The reason for having Dr. Bose do the surgery was because I knew that Dr. Bose has done many, many complex cases.  I also knew that he had a reputation for having done more avn cases than any other doctor on the planet.   I knew mine was an avn case and the top 1/3 of my femur head had eroded away, I felt that my case was a complex case.   With that in mind, that is the reason I wanted Dr. Bose to do my surgery.  I wanted a doctor that had seen it all, especially in the sense of complex cases.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, my preference was to get a BMHR if possible.  However, I only wanted a BMHR if in Dr. Bose’s opinion it could be done and he thought it would hold up.  I did not want a BMHR if it was likely to fail early or a few years from now.  Dr. Bose had agreed to do the BMHR if the femur neck was ok, and if not to do the delta motion THR.  Of course it turned out that the femur neck was bad and I wound up with the Delta motion hip.  I wanted to rely on what Dr. Bose thought was best for me, which is why I went to the other side of the planet to get the surgery done.
   I might mention here, that in 2008, I was having a lot of pain with my right hip and was walking with a cane at that time.  I was seeing a chiropractor who did an x-ray on me that picked up the collapsing right femur head.  He didn’t notice the bad femur head and I went another 2 years not knowing what was wrong with me.
   I first started having pain in my right hip in late 2006 or early 2007.  Since I also have some pretty severe back problems, I thought the pain was coming from my lower back, which caused me to not look too hard at the hip joint.  To make matters worse, I was experiencing a lot of what is called “referred pain” in my right knee.  For a couple of years, I thought I needed a knee replacement.  In 2010, I finally had my knees x-rayed and the doctor said there was nothing wrong with my knees.  I was totally blown away when I found that out.  I could not see how I could have so very much intense pain in my right knee and there be nothing wrong with the knee.  I just didn’t think that was possible.  I should add here, that I haven’t had any more referred pain in my knee since I had the Delta motion hip surgery.
   I saw where someone was asking if the Delta motion hip was available in the USA.  I think it is not, because when I was making surgery arrangements, Dr. Bose mentioned that the BMHR nor the Delta motion hip was available in the USA.  Probably because it has not been FDA approved.  I think it is available in the UK and many other countries. 
   I have been doing research continually on the Delta motion hip and I have not run across any negative information or reports on it to date.  All the information I have seen on the Delta motion hip has been very good.  Also, in the course of doing the Delta motion hip research, I did notice that Smith and Nephew is working on FDA approval for their own version of the Delta motion hip.
   I might mention here, that while I was in India, I met an American woman who was about a week ahead of me in getting a Delta motion hip.  I have stayed in touch with her from time to time and she indicated to me, recently, that she was pretty happy with her Delta motion hip.  She mentioned that she was doing some 5 mile hikes with pretty much no pain and no problems with the hip.  I can’t walk nearly that far, because of the problems with my back, which was recently diagnosed as needing a spinal fusion.
   My left hip was diagnosed with avn in 2010 and recently I asked Dr. Bose for his opinion of it.  He said that it definitely did have avn, but would not be ready for surgery for a few more years.  It doesn’t hurt much right now, so I will just have to wait for a few years to have that hip done.  Currently, my plans are to have Dr. Bose do that surgery, as well.
   Hope this information helps.  If anyone has any questions about my experience with the avn or the Delta motion hip, please feel free to ask.

DZR (aka John)

R Delta motion hip June 2011 Dr. Bose 40 mm ball 52mm cup

[deepika]

Hi drz,
Thanks for your detailed reply. My surgery date is booked for July 12th. In my case pregnancy caused my AVN and i went from initial symptoms to total collapse in 6 months!! It was pretty fast...dint have any issues till then. I will be going for Delta Motion from Dr Bose, he is very close to the place i stay and from the forums i think he is the best doctor i can afford here in India. I am still terrified sinc ei am only 27 god knows how many surgeries i will see in my lifetime. My left leg also has started to bother me, even I am facing knee pain. I was so scared that even my knee has AVN turns out it is referred pain. As of now I am going to trust my life with Dr Bose and his team. But i am very scared to be frank...how long did Bose say that Delat Motion is expected to work for you? He is very confident that I may have this for 30 years and may even never need one more surgery...I am not sure about this, since i am seeing so many ppl going for revisions in less than 5 years on forums.  How was your experience with the hospital staff in Apollo Chennai? How long did you take to walk unassisted?

[dzr]

Hi Deepika,
   You are right, from initial symptoms to total collapse of the femur head is very fast.  I think the time from my initial symptoms to total collapse was probably like a year and a half to two years.  My avn went undiagnosed for a long time because of my belief that it was a back problem and my doctors weren’t focused on my hip joints.  My left hip also has avn, but it doesn’t hurt much unless I do a lot of exercises.  The avn shows up on x-rays even though I don’t  have much symptoms.  The first x-rays that show the avn were taken in early 2010 and Dr. Bose thinks it will be a year or two before I will need the hip surgery on it.
   Since you are already in India, I really think Dr. Bose is a very good choice for your surgery, especially since he has so much experience with complex and avn cases.
   I didn’t ask Dr. Bose how long he thought the Delta hip would last, but he did comment that he thought I would be through with that hip problem for the rest of this life.  I was 54 years old at the time he made that comment.  I have done quite a bit of research on the Delta hip and have seen that some doctors have said  they think the Delta hip could last 70 to 80 years.   (Note that they said Could, not Would).  There is always a risk of the unknown and the unknowable in a situation like this.  I tried to hedge my bet by using what I thought was the best doctor for my situation and rely on his judgement, wisdom, and experience.  He thought the Delta hip was the best prosthesis for me and I am satisfied with his judgement.  I felt that I traded one risk for a different risk.  I had planned to get a BMHR with the risk that I might have a metal ion problem later.  I wound up with a Delta hip with its risk of unknown problems since it was such a new product.  But one thing I feel confident about is that I don’t think I will have a metal ion problem with the Delta hip, which appears to be likely to last a long time.
   As far as being scared or afraid, I suspect that is a very natural emotion to such a hip problem.  I was 54 at the time of my surgery, and honestly, I was incredibly scared and afraid, even up until the time they were rolling me into the operating room.  I was still afraid until I took that first big sniff of gas.  On the other hand, I had some relief in knowing I had done my research, and I had a very good doctor and because of that, I had a very, very good chance of having a successful surgery.  I also knew that once I got the surgery behind me that every passing day would be better with my hip problem.  It is such a wonderful thing to be rid of that awful hip and knee pain. Looking back on the whole situation, I really wish that I had gotten the surgery a couple of years earlier than I did.  But a late diagnosis and finances played a large part on delaying the surgery.  I just did the best I could with the cards that I was dealt.
   The doctors and staff at Apollo hospital in Chennai, treated me very, very good.  I have been in quite a few hospitals here in the US and I really don’t think I would have received nearly as good treatment as that treatment that I received at Apollo in Chennai.  The doctors, nurses and staff were  great.
   I was able to walk unassisted a little bit on about day 4 post op.  I used the crutches for about 2 or 3 weeks because I wanted to obey doctors orders and to be safe, not to fall.  I totally retired my walking cane at about week 6 or 7 post op, simply because I didn’t need it any more and it was an unnecessary hassle carrying it around.
   I hope this info will reduce your fears a bit and give you more confidence to get your hip fixed and start a new pain free chapter in your life.

DZR —R Delta motion hip—Dr. Bose–June 2011----40 MM ball –52 MM cup

[dzrman]

Hi everyone,
I just wanted to check in with an update on my hip surgery.  In June 2011, I went to India with the intention of having Dr. Bose doing a birmingham midhead resection surgery (bmhr) on my hip.  During the surgery, he concluded that my necrosis was too advanced to do a bmhr.  Prior to surgery, I had agreed to go with a delta motion hip if a bmhr could not be done.  Dr.  Bose did perform the delta motion hip surgery on my hip and the results have been excellent.  It has now been about eight and one half years since the
surgery and I have had virtually no problems with the delta motion hip.  I have had zero squeaks, grinds or other noises with the new hip.  Now, my hip feels as normal as the other non-operated hip.  I have gone back to work and do much of the strenuous work that I used to do before my hip went bad from avn.  I just wanted to let everyone know that after eight and on half years, I am extremely happy and satisfied with my delta motion hip surgery performed by Dr. Bose in June 2011.  Also, I would like to add that I do not run with this delta motion hip, because I fear that the impact of running might loosen the stem of the hip and cause it to fail.  Not running on the hip is not a big deal to me.  I am quite happy to be able to work and walk normally and without any pain.  That's a huge improvement.  John

[Pat Walter]

Hi John
Thanks for the update.  I always appreciate people sharing their stories whether hip resurfacing or not. It is important that people know you can be active and out of pain with total hip replacements. The only suggestion I have is to ask what kind of THR you are receiving if you can't have a hip resurfacing. Make sure you are getting a large ball version of the device.  It is the small, old fashioned THRs that really restricted peoples activities.
I wish you the very best and look forward to future updates.
Pat