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Percutaneous assisted total hip technique associated with successful THA outcomes
Daluga, DJ. Am J Orthop. 2012; 41(2): 74-78.
The Percutaneously Assisted Total Hip (PATH) technique was found to provide adequate visualization for accurate acetabular cup placement in total hip arthroplasty (THA), according to a study conducted by researchers at the Arnett Clinic in Lafayette, Ind.
Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for THA is popular, the author noted, but it presents challenges with visualization and malpositioning of the components. The PATH technique, he continued, was designed to eliminate the angular constraints of typical MIS approaches and achieve consistent acetabular inclination with minimal soft-tissue disruption.
Daniel J. Daluga, MD, sole author of the study, studied 74 consecutive primary THAs performed with the PATH technique over a 1-year period. The participants included 36 men and 35 women with a mean age of 67.7 years. Daluga reviewed the acetabular inclination angles radiographically with follow-up ranging from 5 months to 18 months.
The results showed that abduction angles for 72 of the 74 hips, 97.3%, were in the safe zone, between 35° and 55°. There mean abduction angle was 45°.
“Proper acetabular abduction angle can be achieved in the majority of cases using this new soft-tissue sparing approach for THA,” Daluga wrote in the abstract.