Digital templating in total hip arthroplasty: Additional anteroposterior hip view increases the accuracy

AIM: To analyze planning total hip arthroplasty (THA) with an additional anteroposterior hip view may increases the accuracy of preoperative planning in THA. METHODS: We conducted prospective digital planning in 100 consecutive patients: 50 of these procedures were planned using pelvic overview only (first group), and the other 50 procedures were planned using pelvic overview plus antero-posterior (a.p.) hip view (second group). The planning and the procedure of each patient were performed exclusively by the senior surgeon. Fifty procedures with retrospective analogues planning were used as the control group (group zero). After the procedure, the planning was compared with the eventually implanted components (cup and stem). For statistic analysis the χ(2) test was used for nominal variables and the t test was used for a comparison of continuous variables. RESULTS: Preoperative planning with an additional a.p. hip view (second group) significantly increased the exact component correlation when compared to pelvic overview only (first group) for both the acetabular cup and the femoral stem (76% cup and 66% stem vs 54% cup and 32% stem). When considering planning ± 1 size, the accuracy in the second group was 96% (48 of 50 patients) for the cup and 94% for the stem (47 of 50 patients). In the analogue control group (group zero), an exact correlation was observed in only 1/3 of the cases. CONCLUSION: Digital THA planning performed by the operating surgeon and based on additional a.p. hip view significantly increases the correlation between preoperative planning and eventual implant sizes.