Perioperative complications in revision hip surgery.

Revision hip surgery now constitutes 10-30% of all joint procedures. The morbidity and associated with this demanding operation are not well established. The goal of this paper is to determine these rates and to identify some predictive factors.<br /> The complication rate ranges from 31,5 to more than 77% in the literature. Life threatening complications represent 1,8 to 8% of these, leading to death in about 1,6%. ASA score and age above 75 appear to be correlated with medical complications. The injection rate varies from 1 to 5,8%, and may be as high as 14% in cases with a past history of infection. Heterotopic ossification occurred in 13 to 65%, reaching severity in 3,3 to 8,3%.<br /> Surgical complications include dislocation and femoral injuries. Dislocations occur in almost 10%, leading to revision in1-4,2%. Age and the number of previous surgical operations appear to be significant risk factors. Femoral injuries (perforations or femoral fractures) occur in 6-37%, especially in impaction grafting technique and when uncemented implants are used. Age over 75 years and femoral defects appear to be significant risk factors for femoral fractures.<br /> The rate of complications in revision hip surgery continues to be high, but successful clinical outcome can be attained even in elderly patients. Attentive preoperative exams, good prevention of technical pitfalls, the experience of the surgeon and the use of specific tools may decrease these complications and make this demanding procedure safer.<br />