President Lula (PT) will undergo surgery this Friday (29) to place a hip prosthesis to treat symptoms of advanced osteoarthritis. The procedure will take place at the Brasília unit of Hospital Sírio-Libanês. Considered low-risk, the surgery was recommended to Lula by his medical team, but the president had been postponing the procedure since last year's election campaign.
The PT member is expected to remain in the hospital until next Tuesday (3). After the surgery, Lula must spend at least three weeks working from home, at the Palácio da Alvorada in Brasília.
Osteoarthritis is a disease associated with the loss of cartilage, a surface that covers the joints to prevent friction between the bones. "The joint is an almost perfect system for reducing friction. When two ice surfaces are rubbed together, they have more friction than two healthy cartilage surfaces", explains Giancarlo Polesello, a hip surgeon at Hospital Sírio-Libanês. The main joints affected by osteoarthritis are the hip, in Lula's case, and the knee, according to Polesello. In the hip, osteoarthritis occurs with wear and tear on the cartilage that covers the head of the femur (a bone in the thigh) and the acetabulum (part of the pelvis connected to the femur).
The advanced stage of the disease can generate symptoms such as intense pain in the groin, reduction, and impairment of movement. The disease has different stages, which can range from asymptomatic to advanced. "Many osteoarthritis are completely asymptomatic. In more advanced stages, there begins to be pain due to friction between the bone surfaces", says the doctor.
Translated by Cassy Dias