The efficacy of an imageless navigation system in acetabular cup orientation during total hip arthroplasty (THA) is well known. We evaluated the accuracy of placement of the cup and stem and leg extension length with the imageless navigation system.

Radiographic evaluation was performed in 69 consecutive patients (75 joints) who underwent primary THA from January 2009 to December 2010. Evaluation of the cup inclination angle (CI), cup anteversion angle (CA), leg extension length (L) and stem anteversion angle (SA) was carried out. SA was evaluated in 21 patients who underwent CT scan after surgery. The accuracy of imageless navigation system was evaluated by comparison of the navigation values obtained during surgery with the radiographic or CT measured values.

Good correlation was found between the navigation values and the radiographic or CT measured values in CI (P<0.001, r² = 0.579), CA (P<0.001, r² = 0.607), L (P<0.001, r² = 0.775), and SA (P<0.001, r² = 0.834). The mean absolute difference between navigation and radiograph or CT was 3.3 degrees (range 0.1 to 9.9 degrees) in CI, 4.6 degrees (0.1 to 11.4 degrees) in CA, 3.2mm (0.7 to 8.3) in L, and 3.6 degrees (0.1 to 10 degrees) in SA.

The results of this study demonstrated that imageless navigation shows good accuracy not only in cup implantation angle but also in leg extension length and in stem anteversion angle according to radiographic and CT evaluation. We conclude that imageless navigation is a useful tool for performing accurate surgery for THA.