Post-operative radiographic factors and patient-reported outcome after total hip replacement

Although total hip replacement (THR) is considered a very successful surgical intervention, a proportion of patients experience persistent pain or disability, and/or dissatisfaction with the outcome of surgery. Our aim was to determine whether post-operative radiographic variables were predictive of patient-reported pain, function and satisfaction after primary THR. At 1-3 years after surgery patients completed the WOMAC Pain scale, WOMAC Function scale and a validated measure of satisfaction with the outcome of surgery. Post-operative radiographs taken prior to discharge were graded for the restoration of offset, restoration of leg length, anteroposterior (AP) alignment of the femoral stem and AP acetabular inclination. Binary logistic regression was used to identify whether radiographic variables were significant predictors of patient-reported outcome scores. Radiographic and patient-reported outcomes data were available for 452 THR patients. No radiographic predictors were found to be significant predictors of patient reported pain, function or satisfaction at 1-3 years after THR. This highlights that patients with continuing problems after THR may benefit from a thorough multidisciplinary assessment to diagnose the underlying cause of the problems.