Computer approaches to total hip replacement evaluation just prior to operation

Abstract

The surgical operation of total hip replacement (THR) is, after 30 years, regarded as a successful medical procedure. The average life of an artificial hip has, however, remained at about 15 years for more than a decade, at a time when life expectancy and the quality of life of the elderly have greatly improved. As a result the expectations of patients are being increasingly frustrated. It is in this context that failure to carry out a thorough scientific and clinical evaluation of THR options just prior to the operation is no longer tenable. Decisive information on patient variables and pathology and on operation choices becomes available at this time. The universal availability of advanced computing power has removed the time and knowledge limitations on orthopaedic surgeons that formerly prevented them from accessing all rel­evant medical and non-medical data. This thesis defends the proposition that what is involved in selecting the correct prosthesis is essentially a data-mining exercise that falls into the category of classification: patient/prosthesis combinations must be classified as accept or reject.