Clinical Analysis Of The Leg-Length Discrepancy After Total Hip Arthroplasty

Objective To investigate the cause and the strategy of prevention and treatment of leg-length discrepancy after total hip arthroplasty.Methods From January 2004 to December 2005, 46 patients undergone unilateral THA were evaluated: 15 males and 31 females; average was 61.5 years(21-85 years).The cause included osteoarthritis (11 patients), avascular necrosis of the femoral head (15 patients), femoral neck fracture (17 patients), congenital hip dysplasia (2 patients), other (1 patient). Through the clinical measurements and evaluaton, choiced the templates and decide the level of the femur neck be cut, used leg-length measurement tests to achieve an intended leg -length equalizations. All the data were analyzed by SPSS 11.0.Results All cases were followed up for average 16.8 monthes (6-29 monthes). Of the 29 patients with an equal limb before operation, 3were lengthened 10-20mm in their lower limbs, Of the 17 patients with shortened limbs before operation, 11 returned to the same lengths in their lower limbs, 4 were lengthened 10-20mm in their lower limbs. But 2 with seriously shortened lower limbs for congenital dysplasia of the hip joint were still shortened 10-20mm in the limb length after operation. Simple regression analysis showed that femoral offset was significantly and positively related to the leg-length discrepancy (X~2=4.40, P<0. 05). Conclusion The importance of leg-length discrepancy after total hip arthroplasty must not be neglected. The preoperative measurements, templating, intraoperative leg- length measurement are helpful in minimizing limb length discrepancy during THA. We can get satisfactory result. There are no standard to cure the LLD and revision operation is few used.