COMPUTER GUIDED HIP RESURFACING ARTHROPLASTY

Abstract

Metal-on-metal hip arthroplasty is nowadays a well spread technique for hip replacement. It is a technically demanding procedure with sine qua non steps. Most of the large Australian, British and north-American clinical outcomes found about 20% early failure, within 3 months, during the steep part of the learning curve. In a biomechanical study on cadaver we showed that valgus and version placements should be appropriate in order to get the most effective strength in compression. But valgus placement is drastically limited by lateral neck notching which leads to early fracture. Anteversion also should be manage to address the cam-type shape of the ventro-lateral femoral neck, since most of the young patient with hip arthritis present retroverted misalignment of the head along the neck axis. The size of the femoral head is another issue because big head component needs a big acetabular cup. Sparing large amount of bone on the femoral side might lead to bone lost on the pelvic side. In order to enhance the placement of the femoral component – smallest one, in valgus, without retroversion and without neck notching – manufacturers propose mechanical device based on neck intraoperative palpation. Digitalized versions of this principle are also available. These systems still demand experienced surgeon to make slight adjustment on entry point and trajectory of the guide-wire. Imageless computer navigation based on proximal femur palpation and atlas is interesting on almost normal bone but could be inaccurate on altered bone, especially cam-type shape. Navigation based on CT scan gives exact 3D information and accurate planning but is still time consuming. Navigation on 2D fluoroscopic view shows good clinical results with only about 20 minutes more than a standard procedure.

We proposed a bone morphing^® procedure with emphasis of surface palpation on head-neck junction to get accurately the personal shape of each femur. Preliminary results on pathological bones showed safe reaming of the head without notching.