Abstract
Instability following total hip arthroplasty (THA) is an unfortunately frequent and serious problem that requires thorough evaluation and preoperative planning before surgical intervention. Prevention through optimal index surgery is of great importance, as the management of an unstable THA is challenging even for an experienced joints surgeon. However, even after well-planned surgery, a significant incidence of recurrent instability still exists. Moreover leg-length discrepancy (LLD) after THA can pose a substantial problem for the orthopaedic surgeon. Such discrepancy has been associated with complications including nerve palsy, low back pain, and abnormal gait. Consequently we may use a big femoral head or increase femoral offset (FO) in unstable THA for avoiding LLD. However we do not know the relationship between FO and STT. The objective of this study is to assess hip instability of three different FOs in same patient undergoing THA during an operation.
We performed 70 patients who had undergone unilateral THA using CT based navigation system at a single institution for advanced osteoarthoritis from May 2013 to May 2014. We used postero-lateral approach in all patients. After cup and stem implantation, we assessed soft tissue tensioning in THA during operation. Trial necks were categorized into one of three groups: standard femoral offset (sFO), high femoral offset (hFO, +4mm compared to sFO) and extensive high femoral offset (ehFO, +8 mm compared to sFO). We measured distance of lift-off about each of three femoral necks using CT based navigation system and a force gauge with hip flexed at 0 degrees and 30 degrees under a traction of lower extremity. Traction force was 40% of body weight.
Forty patients had leg length restored to within +/− 3mm of the contralateral side by post-operative CT analysis. We examined these patients. Traction force was 214±41.1Nm. The distances of lift-off were 8.8±4.5mm (sFO), 7.4±4.1mm (eFO), 5.1±3.9mm (ehFO) with 0 degrees hip flexion and neutral abduction(Abd) / adduction(Add) and neutral internal rotation(IR)/ external rotation(ER). The distance of lift-off were 11.5±5.9mm (sFO),10.5±5.5mm (eFO),9.1±5.9mm (ehFO) with 30 degrees hip flexion and neutral Abd / Add and neutral IR/ER. Significant difference was observed between 0 degrees hip flexion and 30 degrees hip flexion on each FO (p<0.05). On changing the distance of lift-off, hFO to ehFO (2.2±1.6mm)was more stable than sFO to hFO (1.4±1.7mm)with 0degrees hip flexion.(p<0.05). On the other hands, hFO to ehFO (1.4±1.6mm) was more stable than sFO to hFO (1.0±1.3mm) with 30 degrees hip flexion. However, we did not find significant difference (p=0.18).
Hip instability was found at 30 degrees hip flexion more than at 0 degrees hip flexion. We found that changing ehFO to sFO can lead to more stability improvement of soft tissue tensioning than sFO to eFO, especially at 0 degrees hip flexion. Whereas In a few cases, the distance of lift-off did not change with increasing femoral offset by 4mm. When you need more stability in THA without LLD, We recommend increasing FO by 8mm.
