Abstract
The cementless, tapered wedge, short femoral stem implant is commonly used in direct
anterior approach (DAA) total hip arthroplasty (THA). The lack of access and visualization,
however, may increase the risk of perioperative fracture and early failure. Therefore,
the current study examined perioperative complications and 2-year implant survivorship
following DAA THA performed using a fracture table and short, tapered wedge femoral
stem. A retrospective analysis was conducted on patients having undergone DAA THA
with a cementless, tapered wedge, short femoral stem. Perioperative fractures were
noted and survivorship was determined by the incidence of revision surgery within
a minimum 2-year follow-up period. A total 366 consecutive patients (441 hips) were
identified in the cohort. Four patients (6 hips; 1.4%) were lost to follow-up and
three patients died from unrelated causes. Average follow-up time for the remaining
359 patients (435 hips) was 32.9 ± 10.2 months. There were no intraoperative factures
but three perioperative fractures within two weeks. Aseptic loosening occurred in
one stem at 13 months, resulting in a 99.1% survival rate with a mean survival time
of 23.8 ± 0.1 months (95% confidence interval: 23.6–24.0 months). The use of a short,
tapered wedge femoral stem and a fracture table for DAA THA resulted in 0.7% periprosthetic
fractures and only one aseptic loosening within 2 years. These results suggest that
proper femoral exposure with the use of a fracture table and a short, tapered wedge
femoral stem does not appear to increase the risk of periprosthetic femoral fracture.
Keywords survivorship - total hip arthroplasty - direct anterior approach - short stem - tapered
wedge stem - fracture table