Direct Lateral Approach for Total Hip Arthroplasty and its Complications in a Group of Patients

Abstract

Background: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) aims to treat pain and to restore the joint motion and stability. The surgical approaches to perform it are different, and all approaches have disadvantages or complications. The direct lateral approach (DLA) advantages include the decrement of the dislocation possibility. Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the Harris hip score (HHS) and frequency of complications by gender among a group of patients who underwent THA through DLA, and the mean age of those patients with and without complications. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted from June 2014 to January 2021 and included 80 patients in Saint Raphael Hospital in Baghdad undergoing primary THA by DLA. We excluded patients with revision THA. Age, gender, follow-up period, complications, and HHS were recorded and entered into computer software Microsoft Excel version 2019. Mean ± standard deviation was used to express continuous variables, whereas frequency and percentage were used to express categorical variables. t-test and Chi-square test were used as appropriate. Results: There were a total of 80 patients (29 males/51 females). Mean HHS was 96.7 ± 1.5; mean HHS and frequency of complications did not differ significantly by gender. The percent of dislocation, fracture, and infection among patients was 3.8%, 5%, and 3.8%, respectively. The mean age did not differ significantly among patients with and without complications. Conclusions: Gender had no role in the complications related to DLA, and age had no role in the complications.