Abstract
Background
Short stem has potential advantages of bone and muscle preservation. Current papers demonstrate that direct anterior approach (DAA) is a significant minimally invasive muscle-sparing approach to total hip arthroplasty. Theoretically, a short length stem with a reduced lateral shoulder is the most appropriate design for DAA.
Objectives
To clarify the necessity of the standard length stem in tapered-wedge stem.
Patients and methods
We prepared two kinds of tapered-wedge stem, Taperloc (standard length stem) and Microplasty (short stem) (Biomet, warsaw, Indiana) at the surgery. If the rasp for the short stem had not been fixed rigidly intra-operatively, it would have been changed to the standard length stem. Between May in 2010 and April in 2011, 94 patients (107 hips, 13 bilateral) were included in this study. All THAs were performed by direct anterior approach (DAA) on a standard surgical table. We analyzed the early clinical and radiographic results of 107 THAs in 94 patients (60 women, 34 men). The mean age was 61 (33∼84) years. The mean height was 161 (142∼182) cm and the mean weight was 63 (40∼92) kg.
Results
All hips were implanted with the short stem. There was no need of the standard length stem. The mean operative time was 54 (28–140) minutes and the mean operative blood loss was 422 (60∼2400) ml. There was a significant improvement in functional outcome of these patients as measured by Japanese Orthopedic association hip scores. There were three complications intra-operatively or post-operatively. These were one intraoperative femoral fracture which was salvaged with circular wiring, one femoral fatigue fracture which occurred 6 weeks and cured conservatively, and one pulmonary embolism. There were no stem subsidence, dislocations and infections.
Conclusion
This study confirms that there is no need of a standard length stem in THA using tapered-wedge stem. The short stem and DAA would be a winning combination for THA.
