George Pell, Renee Geyer cause of death: Both die after hip replacement surgery ... trends now
An orthopaedic surgeon has spoken about the hidden dangers involved in hip replacement surgery after complications from the 'routine' procedure was blamed for causing the death of two high-profile Australians in the same week.
Cardinal George Pell, 81, died on January 10 while ARIA Hall of Fame singer Renee Geyer, 69, died on January 17 following complications resulting from their respective hip replacement surgeries.
Elective hip surgery is one of Australia's most common procedures, performed around 52,000 times per year.
And while it is an extremely common procedure, clinical associate professor Andrew Leicester, who performs around 200 hip replacement surgeries each year at Bowral Orthopaedics in Sydney said issues could arise even if the patient was of good health.
'It depends on the patient's general health, but it's a generally safe procedure,' Dr Leicester told Daily Mail Australia.
Complications from hip replacement surgery was blamed in the deaths of George Pell and Renee Geyer (pictured, stock)
Hip replacement surgery became commonplace in the 1960s but doctors have made leaps and bounds in the level of safety in the procedure since then.
'Most clinics will have what's called a pre-admission clinic, which patients generally attend around two to three weeks before surgery,' Dr Leicester said.
'They'll have a whole lot of blood tests, a cardiograph, you usually get assessed by an anaesthetist. If they're a high-risk patient they might get referred to a cardiologist to get assessed.
'It's generally a safe procedure, but there's risks with any anaesthetic even for a five minute operation.
'Particularly if someone has a bad heart, it's not even as much as the surgery's fault, it's the anaesthetic.'
General anaesthetic, which puts the patient into a state of 'controlled unconsciousness', can cause serious issues in relation to a patient's heart, even in healthy patients.
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