Posterior versus lateral approach for hip arthroplasty.

In a study of two groups of 100 patients each, with a similar composition (age, sex and indications for surgery), operations for total hip arthroplasty took half as long and the blood loss was clearly less when using the posterior route in one group compared with Charnley's conventional approach in the other group. These are important considerations for elderly patients with a high operative risk. Radiologic assessments showed that with the posterior approach there was a wider variation in the location of the cup in the frontal plane. However, this has not caused any inconvenience during the short observation period to date. No comparison has been made of the functional results over an extended period.