Bilateral simultaneous total hip arthroplasty in a fast track setting.

Simultaneous bilateral hip arthroplasty has been reported to have varying results in the literature when performed using conventional postoperative care. Unilateral hip and knee arthroplasty as well as bilateral simultaneous knee arthroplasty may be associated with reduced length of stay and low complication rates when performed in a fast-track setting. We believed it would be useful to assess hip arthroplasty in this context, and we report 50 consecutive fast-track simultaneous bilateral hip arthroplasty procedures. The median length of stay was 4 days. Mortality within 90 days was 4% and 8% required a further operative procedure. The overall complication rate was 22%. 55% of the complications were considered to be caused by failures in surgical technique and 45% by other factors. Bilateral simultaneous hip arthroplasty may have a high complication rate in a fast-track setting and further evaluation may be warranted.