Optimising Soft-Tissue Balancing in Hip Hemiarthroplasty Surgery Using a Simple Planning Protocol

Introduction Intracapsular neck of the femur fractures are some of the most common fragility fractures with significant morbidity and mortality. Cemented hemiarthroplasty is the standard treatment in most cases. Restoring the horizontal offset and leg length is important to optimize the outcome of hip hemiarthroplasty. Preoperative templating based on a scaled radiograph is common prior to total hip arthroplasty surgery to achieve optimum offset and leg length. It is not routine to have scaled radiographs available prior to a hemiarthroplasty surgery. Our simple non-scaled radiograph templating protocol (NSRTP) was introduced to help establish the correct offset and leg length in the absence of scaled radiographs. Methods A retrospective, comparative, case-control study was carried out in an acute hospital setting. Scaled radiographs were not available for any patients in the study, as is usual for hemiarthroplasty patients in our hospital. One group had surgery without any templating. The other group had surgery using the NSRTP. The NSRTP determined optimal ipsilateral offset based on preoperative measurement of the contralateral hip offset and ipsilateral head diameter on unscaled radiographs together with intraoperative measurement of the diameter of the ipsilateral femoral head removed at surgery. To help achieve the correct length, the NSRTP also included assessment and restoration of the contralateral greater trochanter tip-to-head relationship. The neck cut was tailored to restore the correct relationship. Results Twenty-three patients underwent hemiarthroplasty surgery without any templating and 23 had surgery using the NSRTP. The implants used were C-STEM™ (DePuy Synthes, Raynham, Massachusetts, United States) and SPECTRON (Smith & Nephew plc, London, United Kingdom); stems were used together with monopolar heads. The stems were available in standard and high offset versions and with a variety of neck lengths, allowing the correct combination to be selected to restore offset. When the NSRTP was used, horizontal offset and leg length were restored to within 2 mm of the contralateral hip in 22 patients out of 23. There was a statistically significant improvement in restoration of offset and leg length when the NSRTP was used, compared to the control group. Conclusion Restoration of the offset and leg length is important to maximize the outcome of hip arthroplasty surgery. Preoperative templating is helpful to achieve offset and leg length in total hip replacement. In the absence of scaled radiographs, NSRTP enables restoration of offset and leg length to within 2 mm of normal in more than 96% of patients. This protocol requires knowledge of the offset of the hemiarthroplasty stems being used, which is easily available from the relevant manufacturer.