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Surrey hospital offers hip-replacement surgery with same-day discharge

‘By the third day, I was able to walk around with no aids,’ patient says
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Hip surgery patient Diana Draper (middle) at Surrey Memorial Hospital with medical team members (from left) Irina Watson, Alex Vesely, Keith Neufeld and Anil Thapar. (submitted photo)

Surrey Memorial Hospital is performing a type of hip surgery that allows patients to be discharged within a few hours of the operation.

Direct anterior hip replacement is considered less invasive, “drastically” reduces recovery time and allows patients to return home just hours after surgery, according to Fraser Health.

Diana Draper said the hip-replacement surgery “gave me my life back.”

Four hours following surgery at SMH on Sept. 16, she said she got up and walked normally for the first time in more than a year.

“I was absolutely blown away,” Draper reported. “By the third day, I was able to walk around with no aids. Within five days I was able to do some household chores and help with the meals.”

An orthopaedic surgeon at Surrey Memorial Hospital, Dr. Keith Neufeld is the first surgeon in Fraser Health to offer the procedure as day surgery. He’s been performing hip replacements using the direct anterior approach for more than two years.

Neufeld’s procedure is done as a same-day discharge, meaning patients come in for major surgery and leave on the same day, rather than two or three days later.

“Patients report less pain and less use of pain medication with the anterior approach,” Fraser Health says. “It also has a lower dislocation risk, and as a day surgery procedure, it reduces demand on the stretched health-care system.”

An active wife, mom, grandmother and former registered nurse, Draper had previously dealt with hip pain that eventually rendered her unable to walk.

“I feel I’m doing amazing,” she said post-surgery. “My hip feels so strong and stable. I can hardly wait to walk 10,000 steps a day again without pain. At the moment I have worked my way up to a kilometre.”



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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