Accurate leg length measurement in total hip arthroplasty: a comparison of computer navigation and a simple manual measurement device
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Individualized Stem-positioning in Calcar-guided Short-stem Total Hip Arthroplasty
Published on: February 27, 2018
Kyoichi Ogawa1, Tamon Kabata1, Toru Maeda1
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa, Japan.
Background:
Several studies have shown that better placement of the acetabular cup and femoral stem can be achieved in total hip arthroplasty (THA) by using the computer navigation system rather than the free-hand alignment methods. However, there have been no comparisons of the relevant clinical advantages in using the computer navigation as opposed to the manual intraoperative measurement devices. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the use of computer navigation can improve postoperative leg length discrepancy (LLD) compared to the use of the measurement device.
Methods:
We performed a retrospective study comparing 30 computer-assisted THAs with 40 THAs performed using a simple manual measurement device.
Results:
The postoperative LLD was 3.0 mm (range, 0 to 8 mm) in the computer-assisted group and 2.9 mm (range, 0 to 10 mm) in the device group. Statistically significant difference was not seen between the two groups.
Conclusions:
The results showed good equalization of the leg lengths using both computed tomography-based navigation and the simple manual measurement device.
