How Artificial Joint Registries Work
September 1, 2008 – 7:00 pmA registry for artificial joints is much like any system that can compare performance of competing cars or appliances, but in this case it involves appliances going into the human body.
A patient - identified by a number - is entered into a database along with information about the device he or she received, the surgical technique used and the name of the doctor who performed the procedure. If a patient returns for a replacement, the information is recorded again, creating a rolling surveillance system.
Such databases can be examined at any time for information and groups that operate national registries issue annual reports comparing performance of devices, differing surgical techniques and hospitals.
Registries do not catch all problems and some registries have not been effective because not enough doctors participate. But the success of the Swedish program inspired Australian orthopedists to start their registry in the late 1990s through a professional association, said Dr. Stephen Graves, the program’s director. Since then Australia’s rate of early replacement procedures, or revisions, has declined.
Confronted with registry data indicating problems, a “significant percentage of companies will take the devices off the market,” Dr. Graves said.
I have participated in a voluntary registry since such became available over the past 30 years. Every patient for whom I perform an implant is assessed with a written documentation and entered in to a computerized data base and over the last 12 years, a registry as well. The data is periodically scrutinized for scientific study and statistically significant information is submitted to peer reviewed journals. As a specialty hospital, those of us who practice at the Neurologic & Orthopedic Hospital of Chicago believe it is inherent in our mission to lead the joint replacement community in scientific scrutiny and provide the most successful long term outcomes for our patients.
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