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Published on: September 7, 2022
No clinically meaningful difference in 1-year patient-reported outcomes among major approaches for primary total hip
, James B Bircher1, Atul F Kamath1
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA.
Background:
Debate continues around the most effective surgical approach for primary total hip arthroplasty (THA). This study's purpose was to compare 1-year patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) of patients who underwent direct anterior (DA), transgluteal anterolateral (AL)/direct lateral (DL), and posterolateral (PL) approaches.
Methods:
A prospective consecutive series of primary THA for osteoarthritis (n = 2390) were performed at 5 sites within a single institution with standardised care pathways (20 surgeons). Patients were categorised by approach: DA (n = 913; 38%), AL/DL (n = 505; 21%), or PL (n = 972; 41%). Primary outcomes were pain, function, and activity assessed by 1-year postoperative PROMs. Multivariable regression modeling was used to control for differences among the groups. Wald tests were performed to test the significance of select patient factors and simultaneous 95% confidence intervals were constructed.
Results:
At 1-year postoperative, PROMs were successfully collected from 1842 (77.1%) patients. Approach was a statistically significant factor for 1-year HOOS pain (p = 0.002). Approach was not a significant factor for 1-year HOOS-PS (p = 0.16) or 1-year UCLA activity (p = 0.382). Pairwise comparisons showed no significant difference in 1-year HOOS pain scores between DA and PL approach (p > 0.05). AL/DL approach had lower (worse) pain scores than DA or PL approaches with differences in adjusted median score of 3.47 and 2.43, respectively (p < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Patients receiving the AL/DL approach had a small statistical difference in pain scores at 1 year, but no clinically meaningful differences in pain, activity, or function exist at 1-year postoperative.
