In a July 2013 issue of the Washington Post there was an article about a woman, Jan Harrod,who had undergone shoulder replacement surgery following unsuccessful conservative treatment for damage to her shoulder in a fall. While the patient had a good mechanical result, she could move her arm well, she continued to suffer unrelenting pain.
Visits to her surgeon and consultations with other specialists had not solved the problem. She underwent invasive procedures to look for and fix possible reasons for the pain. Nothing helped. Infection of the surgical site was suspected but ruled out.
In a casual conversation with a distant relative, her brother was reminded of her lifelong allergy to nickel, a metal often found in inexpensive jewelry. Since childhood she would react to exposure as if she had been around poison ivy. The brother mentiond it to his sister but she assured him the implant was made of titanium. Actually, there had not been much discussion about the material the implant was made of, she has just read it was titanium. No problem.
But at her next consultation with an orthopedic specialist she mentioned her allergy to nickel. He revealed that, while the implant was mostly titanium, there were some other metals involved, nickel among them. Lots of tests confirmed her allergy to the metal and the extreme solution of replacing the prosthesis with a custom one, totally made of titanium, was decided on.
At the time of the article appearing, she was doing very well. Her surgery was successful and she was finally pain free. It's natural to assume the lifelong allergy was causing the trouble. It's impossible to know for sure. But hers is a cautionary tale to anyone anticipating joint replacement surgery. If you have had any severe allergy be sure to mention it to your surgeon.
You can google the article by in the Washington Post.
Visits to her surgeon and consultations with other specialists had not solved the problem. She underwent invasive procedures to look for and fix possible reasons for the pain. Nothing helped. Infection of the surgical site was suspected but ruled out.
In a casual conversation with a distant relative, her brother was reminded of her lifelong allergy to nickel, a metal often found in inexpensive jewelry. Since childhood she would react to exposure as if she had been around poison ivy. The brother mentiond it to his sister but she assured him the implant was made of titanium. Actually, there had not been much discussion about the material the implant was made of, she has just read it was titanium. No problem.
But at her next consultation with an orthopedic specialist she mentioned her allergy to nickel. He revealed that, while the implant was mostly titanium, there were some other metals involved, nickel among them. Lots of tests confirmed her allergy to the metal and the extreme solution of replacing the prosthesis with a custom one, totally made of titanium, was decided on.
At the time of the article appearing, she was doing very well. Her surgery was successful and she was finally pain free. It's natural to assume the lifelong allergy was causing the trouble. It's impossible to know for sure. But hers is a cautionary tale to anyone anticipating joint replacement surgery. If you have had any severe allergy be sure to mention it to your surgeon.
You can google the article by in the Washington Post.
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