Pre-Operative Digital Templating Aids Restoration of Leg-Length Discrepancy and Femoral Offset in Patients Undergoing Total Hip Arthroplasty for Primary Osteoarthritis

Background Pre-operative planning and templating is a crucial pre-requisite for total hip arthroplasty (THA). Recently, the use of digital radiography has allowed templating to be digitalised instead of traditional methods involving the use of radiograph transparencies. The primary aim of this study was to compare the accuracy in correction of leg length discrepancy (LLD) and restoring femoral offset in patients undergoing THA for primary osteoarthritis with pre-operative digital templating (PDT) versus conventionalplanning without digital templating. Methods This retrospective cohort study compared two groups of patients who underwent THA for primary osteoarthritis. During the period of the year 2020, 56 patients underwent THA with pre-operative digital templating and 50 patients without digital templating. Two independent blinded observers recorded all radiological data. Results The digital templated and non-digital templated cohorts were matched for variables including age (mean = 71.8 years vs 70.9 years), pre-operative LLD (-4.9mm vs -5.2mm) and pre-operative offset (41.2mm vs 43.7mm). PDT resulted in correction of LLD to <5mm compared to the contralateral hip in 76.8% of cases, 5-10mm in 21.4% and >10mm in one case (1.8%). The non-digital templated cohort had a LLD of <5mm in 50% of cases, 5-10mm in 28% and >10mm in 22%. Chi-square testing demonstrated these results to be statistically significant (p = 0.002). The mean pre-operative offset in the digital templated group was 40mm and 46mm post-operatively. The non-digital templated cohort had a mean pre-operative offset of 42mm and 36mm post-operatively. Independent t-testing revealed statistical significance of these results (p = 0.05). Conclusion PDT leads to an increased likelihood of restoring LLD to <5mm and a significantly increased likelihood of preventing lengthening >10mm. PDT also significantly increases the chance of restoring femoral offset to match the pre-operative native hip. Decreased offset is seen predominantly in the non-digitally templated patients.