Using acetabular fossa as a guide for anticipated inclination of uncemented cup in total hip replacement

Positions of acetabular implant generally are considered to be major causative factors of dislocation. Accurate and consistent achievement of the preoperatively anticipated orientation of the acetabular cup is a great challenge in total hip replacement (THR). In the present study, we investigated the surgical application of acetabular fossa as a guide for anticipated inclination of uncemented cup, and evaluated its accuracy as an anatomic reference for achieving the preoperatively anticipated abduction of the acetabular cup in comparison with traditional device method on cadaveric specimens. Sixteen normal adult pelvic cadaveric specimens were collected. On each of the sixteen normal adult pelvic cadaveric specimens, acetabular fossa related anatomic sites were marked and studied on pelvic radiographs. Our results showed that there is close correlation between most medial aspect of acetabular sourcil and central axis of the acetabular cup at anticipated inclination of 40° ± 5°. And the fossa group can achieve the preoperatively anticipated cup abduction more accurately than the device group. The current results demonstrated that acetabular fossa can be a reasonable alternative, or as a complement to the currently used methods guiding total hip replacement.