Nicole Lupiloff
Special to the Jewish News

December 7, 2009 - The surgical tables have turned. A new, rotating, carbon composite surgical table now available at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak is dramatically reducing hospital stays and recovery times for those needing a hip replacement.

The high-tech table enables the physician to perform minimally invasive surgery resulting in a smaller incision, less tissue trauma and less pain. The unique hip and knee arthroplasty surgical table, called the hana® table, allows hyperextension and external rotation during hip replacement, decreasing the average hospital stay to two to four days compared to the conventional three to six days, and cuts recovery time to two to six weeks as opposed to two to four months.

"This new piece of equipment surpasses other conventional tables during anterior approach to hip replacement surgery," says James Verner, M.D., joint replacement orthopedic surgeon at Beaumont, Royal Oak. "This table can help my patients return to an active lifestyle faster -- something we want for all our patients."

The table allows the surgeon to position the patient in such a way that no muscles are cut, leaving a four to five inch incision, compared to the usual incision of 10 to 12 inches. The hana® table minimizes trauma under the skin during anterior hip replacement procedures. Surgeons reach the hip joint from the front of the hip as opposed to the side or back, allowing work to be done through the natural interval between the muscles.

"This state-of-the-art table allows the option of cradling the top of the thigh bone, the femur bone, and lifting it sufficiently enough to introduce new implants without the risk of fracturing the bone," says Dr. Verner. "If you go between muscles instead of cut them, those side and back tissues remain undisturbed and have immediate stability after surgery."

One patient who benefited from this new technology was James Deutchman, 59, of Franklin. Limping because of his right hip and in constant discomfort after an August 2007 automobile accident, he needed that stability after months of therapies and tending to other injuries through 2008. Deutchman, who says he carefully walked down stairs and has used a cane since May, eventually started walking less and had an MRI done last summer. The MRI showed bone nearly grinding against other bone. By Sept. 2, Dr. Verner explained the anterior approach to Deutchman and performed the hip surgery on the hana® table Sept. 18.

"I was dangling my legs over the bed that night and walking with a walker the next day," says Deutchman, a real estate developer and president of Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township. "I did physical therapy the day after and was home two days after my surgery, even able to walk the stairs once per day with a crutch. This is a marvelous, straight-forward way to get yourself back to shape in a reasonable time."

Deutchman has had no hip pain since his surgery or during therapy. He says that while his jogging days are behind him, he hopes — and plans — to return to the lifestyle he had before his accident and looks forward to walking without pain.

Hip replacement surgery is the second most common joint replacement procedure behind knee replacement. Beaumont, Royal Oak is one of the highest volume hospitals for knee and hip replacements in the United States. Approximately 2,400 were performed by Beaumont surgeons in 2008.