Bilateral total hip arthroplasty: a simultaneous procedure.

Fifty patients undergoing bilateral total hip replacement as a simultaneous procedure at the Indiana University Medical Center were compared with 50 patients undergoing unilateral total hip replacement. There was an increase in phlebitis and myositis ossificans in the patients undergoing bilateral total hip replacement and while their range of motion was less, there was no difference in mortality with one death in each group. The hospital time for patients in the bilateral group averaged 1 week longer than for those with unilateral hip replacement. The operating time and blood loss in patients of the bilateral group was approximately twice that of patients in the control group. There have been no infections as yet in the bilateral group. On the basis of these preliminary results, we can consider bilateral total hip arthroplasty feasible although it carries a slightly increased risk.