Total hip arthroplasty followed by traction and delayed reduction for Crowe IV developmental dysplasia of the hip.

Hip dislocation secondary to developmental dysplasia of the hip is a debilitating condition. Total hip arthroplasty has proven successful in improving pain, restoring joint function, and correcting leg length discrepancies in this select population. Various techniques have been developed to address the increased complexity inherent to the reconstruction of the severely dysplastic hip. Despite this, femoral and/or sciatic nerve palsy remains a potential catastrophic complication after surgery, with reported rates up to five times that in the general population. We present three cases using a previously unreported technique for performing primary total hip arthroplasty via an anterior approach for Crowe IV hip dysplasia. The goal of this technique is to minimize the risk of postoperative nerve palsy following reconstruction of the severely dysplastic hip. A brief discussion of our technique and the topic of nerve dysfunction after total hip arthroplasty for developmental dysplasia of the hip follows.

Short-term coagulation complications following total knee arthroplasty: a comparison of patient-reported and surgeon-verified complication rates.

Data from 3278 patients from a prospective patient-centered total joint registry was used to investigate the rates of complications in the first 6 months following primary total knee arthroplasty. All patients reporting deep venous thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism (PE), or major bleeding were identified through patient self-reporting. Complications were verified by a review of imaging records and direct communication with patients by a surgeon. Surgeon-verified rates of DVT, PE, and major bleeding were 1.52%, 0.49%, and 0.34%, respectively. When compared with the complication rates as reported by patients, concordance was 86.2% for DVT, 84.2% for PE, and 36.7% for major bleeding. More than half (54.5%) of the complications were diagnosed and treated at the original operative hospital, and 45.5% were diagnosed and treated at other institutions.