RESEARCH ARTICLE
Calcar-Guided Short Stems in Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Two-Year Prospective Multicentre Study
Hagen Mittelstaedt1, *, Josef Hochreiter2, Conrad Anderl2, Carsten Johl3, Thomas Krüger4, Wilmar Hubel5, Ulrich Weigert6, Jan C. Schagemann7
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2020Volume: 14
First Page: 33
Last Page: 38
Publisher ID: TOORTHJ-14-33
DOI: 10.2174/1874325002014010033
Article History:
Received Date: 04/09/2019Revision Received Date: 03/02/2020
Acceptance Date: 17/03/2020
Electronic publication date: 21/04/2020
Collection year: 2020

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Calcar-guided short-stem Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA) is increasingly being used to preserve proximal femoral bone stock for potential later revision surgery.
Objective:
In this study, we aimed to expand the clinical evidence on calcar-guided short-stem THA used in daily clinical practice, focusing on clinical outcomes as well as radiographic signs of stress shielding and femoral bone loss.
Methods:
In a prospective multicentre study, we enrolled 213 patients with a total of 224 THAs for mainly degenerative indications. The patients were examined clinically and radiographically 6 to 12 weeks, 12 months, and 24 months postoperatively.
Results:
All clinical outcomes improved significantly over the first 6 to 12 weeks compared to preoperative values (P < 0.001). At 24 months, the mean Harris hip score was 95.3 ± 6.7, and the mean visual analogue scale for pain was 1.0 ± 1.7 under load and 0.5 ± 1.3 at rest. We observed early distal stem migration in six patients and late migration in one patient. Additionally, we found 16 cases of radiographic signs indicative of stress shielding. Four patients required stem revision surgery: two for stem migration, one for periprosthetic fracture, and one for deep infection.
Conclusion:
Overall, calcar-guided short-stem THA resulted in excellent clinical outcomes after two years of follow-up, and the radiographs revealed few signs of stress shielding. We, therefore, regard calcar-guided short-stem THA as a safe and effective treatment alternative in daily clinical practice.