Hip arthroplasty surgery in Manitoba: 1973-1978.

A review of all (1279) total hip arthroplasties in the Province of Manitoba, Canada, from 1973 to 1978 demonstrates an increase in the number of operations except in the very elderly. Six-week operative mortality was decreased from 2.4% to .6%, and time spent in the hospital has decreased from 54 to 40 days. Utilization of medical services by patients before and after surgery, as recorded by the Manitoba Health Services Commission, enables identification of all serious postoperative complications. Two years after surgery, 95.2% of patients were alive, and 16% had a contralateral hip arthroplasty. Fourteen patients (2.7%) required revision surgery within two years; 20 patients (4%) were readmitted to the hospital with other surgical complications, including trochanteric bursitis, osteomyelitis, pulmonary embolism, and so forth. Visits to physicians for arthritis-related problems and to chiropractors decreased in the two years after surgery compared with the two years before.