Total hip arthroplasty after ipsilateral intra-articular steroid injection: 8 years follow up.

The purpose of the study was to assess the safety of Intra-articular steroid hip injections (IASHI), prior to ipsilateral total hip arthroplasty (THA). We investigated whether there was an excess of infection in such a group 7-10 years after total hip arthroplasty. A database of 49 patients who had undergone IASHI followed by ipsilateral THA was reviewed. The mean length of time between injection and arthroplasty was 12.1 months (5.1-19 months). We found 7 major complications. Ten patients died with no further hip surgery at a mean of 28 months from surgery ; 3 were lost to follow-up. The remaining group (36) were contacted by telephone at a mean of 97.8 (85-117) months from their surgery. No objective signs of joint infection were found. We believe our results show that ipsilateral steroid injection does not confer an increased risk of complications following subsequent THA, over an extended follow up.