Stroke Hazard With Hip Replacement Surgery

The risk of a stroke, for people who have had a total hip replacement, is higher in the first two weeks after their surgery than at any other time. An international study assessed 66, 000 people in The Netherlands who had total hip replacements and compared them to people of the same age and sex, but who had not had the procedure.

The results showed that patients were five times as likely to have an ischemic stroke within the first two weeks after a total hip replacement and were four times as likely to have a hemorrhagic stroke after the same procedure. The risk dropped steadily, after the first two weeks, but remained elevated during at least the first six weeks for ischemic stroke and the first 12 weeks for hemorrhagic stroke.

Another aspect of the study, which was the largest one of its kind, demonstrated that patients who took antiplatelet drugs, such as aspirin, prior to surgery lowered their risk of ischemic stroke in the first six weeks by 70%. There was no change for hemorrhagic stroke.

“This research has demonstrated that there is a high risk of stroke to patients soon after having a total hip replacement and suggests that the use of soluble aspirin might be beneficial in reducing this risk, ” said Cyrus Cooper, M.D. lead rheumatologist of the study and co-author of the study’s paper published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. “Normally we would have reservations about people taking aspirin everyday but our results suggest aspirin is a benefit and worthwhile to give to the patient before the surgery.”