Mini invasive incisions in THA and femoral hip prostheses tend to minimise healing and recovery time. We have used a very posterior approach with technical modifications and precise skin landmarks to decrease surgical complexity, and we describe this experience here.
From 2010 to 2012, 140 patients aged 79 years (range 53-93 years) were operated upon by the same surgeon in a continuous series using the same minimally invasive skin incision and six different types of implants. The incision was very posterior in the hip allowing direct visualisation of the acetabulum in the hip flexion position and visualisation of the femoral shaft extremity in a leg flexion position.
The mean operating time was 100 minutes (range 75-110 min). Estimated blood loss was 385 cc (20-585 cc). Twenty-six patients had blood transfusion. The mean hospital stay was 6.8 days (5-20 days) including the time waiting for a rehabilitation centre. No operative complications related to the technique were recorded. On the postoperative radiograph, the femoral stem was aligned with the femoral axis within 3° in all patients. The mean acetabular angle to the ground plane was 40° (35-48°). No patient had a leg length discrepancy of more than four millimetres. The mean skin incision length was seven centimetres (six to eight centimetres). All patients were seen at the clinic after six weeks and the data were unchanged at this time point.
The method and skin landmarks we describe appear to be a safe way to perform minimally invasive total hip replacement.