Suh Kuen Tak, Cheon Sang Jin, Kim Dae Woong
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Pusan National University Hospital, 1-10 Ami-Dong, Seo-Gu, Pusan 602-739, Republic of Korea.
Acta Orthop Scand. 2004 Feb;75(1):40-4. doi: 10.1080/00016470410001708070.
We studied how preoperative templating corresponded to the postoperative leg length in total hip arthroplasty. On average, the preoperative predictive value of the desired corrective change in leg length was +4.9 (+4.0-+6.7) mm, while the true postoperative assessed value of the corrective change in leg length was +4.7 (+4.0-+6.3) mm. On preoperative radiographs, the ratio of the horizontal offset of a pathological side to a normal side was 95%, on average, and it increased to 96%, on average, after an operation. Preoperatively planned sizes of the acetabular cup and the femoral stem by templating showed a high rate of coincidence with the sizes used intraoperatively. In conclusion, an accurate and careful preoperative templating can result in a balanced hip reconstruction by correcting the leg length differences and restoring the offsets.
