Clinical Review
The Application of Minimally Invasive Surgical Techniques. Part I: Total Hip Arthroplasty
Am J Orthop. 2012 October;41(10):134-139
Author and Disclosure Information
Derek F. Amanatullah, MD, PhD, Matthew T. Burrus, BS, Sathappan S. Sathappan, MD, Brett Levine, MD, and Paul E. Di Cesare, MD
Dr. Amanatullah is Resident, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California–Davis Health System, Sacramento, California.
Mr. Burrus is Medical Student, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Texas Medical School, Houston, Texas.
Dr. Sathappan is Adjunct Assistant Professor, Consultant, and Program Director, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore.
Dr. Levine is Associate Professor, Midwest Orthopaedics, Park Ridge, Illinois.
Dr. Di Cesare is Professor and Chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California–Davis Health System, Sacramento, California.
Traditional surgical approaches often involve large skin incisions with extensive dissection of healthy tissue in order to access the diseased anatomy. The obvious answer to this problem is to make smaller incisions and more focused dissections, while still achieving the same postsurgical outcomes. Minimially invasive surgery is gaining popularity in many orthopedic fields. However, these techniques are not without risk. The continued use of minimally invasive techniques is a topic of debate. If satisfactory alignment with similar complication rates can be realistically achieved, it would seem sensible to consider the less invasive appraches to enable earlier patient recovery and improve cosmesis. Skeptics cliam that they offer no advantage over the time-tested approaches and are concerned that they are being implemented without first being properly scrutinized by the peer review process.