The Lateral Acetabular Registration Technique of Robot-Assisted Total Hip Arthroplasty for Arthrodesed Hips: A Retrospective Cohort Study With a One-Year Follow-Up.

BACKGROUND

The hip joint is one of the peripheral joints most commonly affected by ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Previous research showed that compared to manual total hip arthroplasty (THA), robot-assisted THA significantly improves the likelihood of achieving cup positioning within the target zone.

METHODS

In this study, we investigated robot-assisted THA for arthrodesed hips, including fused hip joints and fibrously fused hip joints. We retrospectively analyzed patients who had AS who underwent THA in our hospital from January 2021 to October 2023. There were 60 patients who underwent robot-assisted THA, and 60 patients received manual THA. There was no significant difference in demographic characteristics between the two groups. The patients were followed up at one year after surgery. We collected the patient's sex, age, body mass index, operative time, postoperative anteroposterior pelvic X-ray, postoperative Harris hip score, intraoperative and postoperative complications.

RESULTS

The operation time of the two groups was 105.5 ± 8.8 versus 104.2 ± 7.1 minutes, with no statistically significant difference. In addition, the frequency of fluoroscopy was lower in the robot group than in the manual group (0 versus 0.8 ± 0.8). The proportion of acetabular prosthesis in the safety zone in the robot-assisted group was higher than that in the control group (93.3 and 55.0%). The dislocation rate of the robot-assisted group was significantly less than that of the manual group (1.7 versus 5.0%). The complication rate of the robot-assisted group was 3.3%, and that of the manual surgery group was 8.3%. At one year after surgery, the Harris hip score of patients in the robot-assisted group was higher than that in the manual group (77.9 ± 4.9 versus 70.4 ± 4.8), with a statistical difference.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrate that robot-assisted THA in AS patients significantly reduces dislocation rates and improves patient satisfaction.