Gene test to tell if your hip surgery will fail: Saliva swab can predict whether you’ll have an adverse reaction to joint implant
- About 15% of Britons have genetic features that cause the immune system to attack the tissue around the material in joint implants, causing pain and swelling.
- Studies have long identified that about a fifth of people react badly to an artificial joint made from cobalt chrome.
- Until now experts didn’t know why, which meant doctors had no way of telling whether a patient would react badly to their new joint.
A saliva swab before your hip replacement can predict whether the procedure will work.
British researchers have found that hidden DNA signals in saliva and blood samples are associated with an adverse reaction to the material in most joint implants.
About 15 percent of Britons have these genetic features, which cause the immune system to attack the tissue surrounding the material, causing pain and swelling.
Studies have long recognized that about a fifth of people react badly to an artificial joint made from cobalt chrome. But until now experts didn’t know why, with doctors having no way of telling whether a patient would react badly to their new joint.
British researchers have found that hidden DNA signals in saliva and blood samples are associated with an adverse reaction to the material in most joint implants. About 15% of Britons have these genetic features, which cause the immune system to attack the material around it, causing pain and swelling.
As well as discovering the genetic culprit, the Newcastle University research team has designed a testing system that can screen patients for the gene with about 90 percent accuracy.
In one trial, more than 600 patients who had joint-replacement surgery in the past ten years were tested using saliva swabs and blood tests.
A computer analyzed the data and revealed the patients who suffered complications had specific genes. The team believes they can use this testing system to find out who may be at risk.
About ten percent of Britons will have joint replacement surgery in their lifetime. The procedure is commonly used to repair damage related to arthritis or age-related wear and tear.
If joint replacements are successful, they live between 15 and 25 years.
Patients with a genetic sensitivity to cobalt chrome usually have a second procedure within months of the first using an alternative material.
Dr David Langton, director of the ExplantLab, a Newcastle-based organization that investigates the relationship between genetics and the performance of the medical devices that participated in the study, said: ‘Little research has been done about whether joint replacements for some Why don’t patients work? If a joint fails, it needs to be replaced, and this leads to a higher risk of blood loss, infection, and even death.
‘Our findings are a major step toward giving patients more choices about what type of joint implant they decide on, and helping them make informed decisions about the risks involved.’
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