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Anytime you have a surgical procedure, there are many risks associated with that procedure. A lot of the risks are actually anesthesia related, the risk of going to sleep and potentially not waking up. Thankfully that’s very low in this country. In the United States and particularly at our institution, the surgery itself with hip replacement and knee replacement does have a risk of infection, neurovascular injury, stiffness, and particularly with the hips dislocation of the implant. Thankfully many of these are quite low. Anesthesia-related risks such as cardiac conditions, heart attack, pulmonary problems are higher on the list of complications and are more likely a direct result of the anesthesia itself. Other risks include loosening of the implant itself in the hip that would require deep bonding of the surface that grows into the implant and in the knees particularly it’s loosening of the cement that can occur with time. Many of the risks associated with older implants were more related to wear related conditions such as wearing out of the prosthesis and would require a interval change in the prosthetic surface and bearing surfaces. This is less common these days as the implants are made with more integrity and longer lasting implants.
