When a patient presents fifteen years later with a painful or loose arthroplasty, the first question is what is in the leg. Without an answer, the revision needs a longer operation, more instruments on standby and sometimes a second admission after the radiographs have been sent to a manufacturer's representative for identification.
The fix costs a minute. Stick the implant labels into the operation note - femoral and tibial or acetabular and femoral components, sizes, catalogue numbers, and the batch numbers where the labels carry them. Record the fixation, bearing type and whether the patella was resurfaced. Then give the patient a card with the same information and tell them to keep it with their identity documents rather than their hospital file, because the hospital file is the thing most likely to be lost.
In a country without a national arthroplasty registry, this is also the only route by which a bad implant becomes visible. A unit that can list what it implanted can answer a recall notice; a unit that cannot, cannot.
- Stick every implant label into the operation note - components, sizes, catalogue and batch numbers
- Record fixation, bearing type and whether the patella was resurfaced
- Give the patient a card with the same details and tell them where to keep it
- Keep a unit-level implant log that can be searched by system name, so a recall can be acted on
- Ask for the card at every arthroplasty follow-up - the habit is what keeps it findable
Why it matters
Without a national registry, a single sticker is the whole traceability chain for that patient and for any recall.
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