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Types & Cost of Rheumatoid Arthritis Surgery
Submitted by Nic on December 17, 2012
Rheumatoid arthritis is a kind of arthritis that causes inflammation, stiffness, soreness, and loss of function in the joints. It can affect any of the joints, but it mostly affects the fingers and the wrist. Women are more prone to rheumatoid arthritis than men.
Surgery for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Surgery is looked at as an option to help alleviate pain and improve mobility and function in severely deformed joints. In most cases, surgery for rheumatoid arthritis will depend on the location of the arthritis and its severity. The various types of surgeries performed include the following.
- Finger and Hand Surgery: There are a variety of hand surgeries for rheumatoid arthritis; these include tendon release to treat unusual bending of the fingers, synovectomy that removes inflamed tissues, carpal tunnel release wherein a ligament has to be cut or released to relieve pressure in the wrist, tendon repair, total resection athroplasty, silicone implant athroplasty, and arthrodesis to relive pain.
- Arthroscopy: An arthroscopic surgery is performed to remove fragments of bone and cartilage that are causing the joint to get inflamed, leading to pain. The best result is when only cartilage is removed and not the bone. Arthroscopy is usually a knee surgery that is also performed on the hip.
- Osteotomy: If only the middle portion or medial compartment of the knee is injured and deformed, the surgeon may opt for an osteotomy. The knee is operated on to remove damaged and scarred tissue on the joint. Reshaping the bone is the next step to remove the deformity.
- Unicompartmental Knee Arthoplasty: This procedure retains vital knee ligaments and is used when there is minimal damage to the knee. It is done more to help alleviate the pain and maintain function in the knee, before it needs to be replaced.
- Joint Replacement Surgery: When all the options have been exhausted, rheumatoid arthritis may reach a point where normal functionality is not possible. In such an event, artificial replacement joints are an option for hip, knee, and other joint replacements.
- Resection of metatarsal heads: This is a commonly used rheumatoid arthritis foot surgery to correct the deformity of the bones in the toes.
Cost of Surgery
The cost of surgery is rather high for patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. The annual direct cost is estimated to be $4.2 billion in the United States and indirect costs are estimated to be two or three times this amount.
References
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