BACKGROUNDTotal hip arthroplasty (THA) is widely applied for the treatment of end-stage painful hip arthrosis. Traditional THA needed a long incision and caused significant soft tissue trauma. Patients usually required long recovery time after the operation. In this research we aimed to study the feasibility and clinical outcomes of minimally invasive two-incision THA.

METHODSFrom February 2004 to March 2005, 27 patients, 12 males and 15 females with a mean age of 71 years (55 - 76), underwent minimally invasive two-incision THA in our department. The patients included 9 cases of osteoarthritis, 10 cases of osteonecrosis, and 8 cases of femoral neck fracture. The operations were done with VerSys cementless prosthesis and minimally invasive instruments from Zimmer China. Operation time, blood loss, length of incision, postoperative hospital stay, and complications were observed.

RESULTSThe mean operation time was 90 minutes (80 - 170 min). The mean blood loss was 260 ml (170 - 450 ml) and blood transfusion was carried out in 4 cases of femoral neck fracture (average 400 ml). The average length of the anterior incision was 5.0 cm (4.6 - 6.5 cm) and of the posterior incision 3.7 cm (3.0 - 4.2 cm). All of the patients were ambulant the day after surgery. Nineteen patients were discharged 5 days post-operatively and 8 patients 7 days post-operatively. The patients were followed for 18 months (13 - 25 months). One patient was complicated by a proximal femoral fracture intraoperatively. No other complications, including infections, dislocations, and vascular injuries, occurred. The mean Harris score was 94.5 (92 - 96).

CONCLUSIONSTwo-incision THA has the advantage of being muscle sparing and minimally invasive with less blood loss and rapid recovery. However, this technique is time consuming, technically demanding, and requires fluoroscopy.