Greater trochanteric pain after primary total hip replacement, comparing the anterior and posterior approach: A secondary analysis of a randomized trial.

Background: Greater trochanteric pain (GTP) after total hip replacement is a common cause of residual lateral hip pain, regardless of the approach used. The goal of our study was to evaluate GTP after a direct anterior approach (DAA) compared to a posterior approach (PA) as well as the clinical outcomes of both approaches and answer the following: 1) What is the incidence of trochanteric pain after primary THA with two different surgical approaches? 2) What is the functional outcome of patients with GTP? 3) What proportion of patients with GTP resort to peritrochanteric injections?

Hypothesis: Our hypothesis is that GTP is present with both approaches but satisfaction is lower with the PA.

Patients And Methods: A secondary analysis of a previously published clinical trial with 55 total hip arthroplasty patients randomized in one of two surgical approaches: 27 patients underwent the anterior modified Hueter approach, while the other group of 28 patients were operated using the posterior approach.

Direct anterior versus posterior approach for total hip arthroplasty: a multicentre, prospective, randomized clinical trial.

Background: The ideal approach for a total hip arthroplasty (THA) would be kind to soft tissues, have the lowest complication rates and be easily reproducible. Although there have been several attempts to find the best approach for THA in the last decade, a definitive answer has not been found. We performed a prospective study to compare the direct anterior and posterior approaches for THA in terms of hospital length of stay, functional outcome, pain, implant position, complications and surgical time.