Total Hip Arthroplasty With the Wagner Cone Femoral Stem in Patients With Crowe IV Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study is to assess treatment of Crowe type IV hip dysplasia with the Wagner cone femoral stem combined with transverse subtrochanteric shortening osteotomy and augmenting the osteotomy site using the intercalary segment as a strut autograft.

Methods: One hundred twenty-seven hips of 91 patients diagnosed with Crowe type IV hip dysplasia and treated with total hip arthroplasty using the Wagner cone stem combined with transverse subtrochanteric shortening osteotomy were retrospectively evaluated by clinical and radiographic outcomes as well as complications.

Results: The mean follow-up was 8.4 years. The Harris Hip Score and the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index scores were significantly improved postoperatively (P = .000). Intraoperative femoral cracks were observed in 70 hips (55.1%) and all femurs healed smoothly. Femoral cracks did not have a significant effect on clinical outcomes, except for heterotopic ossifications (P = .032). The probability of 10-year survivorship of the components free of revision for any reasons as end point was 94.5%; when only the femoral components were considered the survivorship was of 96.9%.

Conclusion: Transverse subtrochanteric shortening and augmenting the osteotomy site using the intercalary segment of bone resected from the shortened femur with the Wagner cone stem is an effective and reliable technique in the management of total hip arthroplasty in Crowe type IV hip dysplasia. Stable and firm placing of the femoral component which leads to an increased frequency of intraoperative femoral cracks does not have an unfavorable effect on clinical and radiological outcomes.

Keywords: Crowe IV DDH; augmenting the osteotomy site; developmental dysplasia of the hip; femoral crack; the Wagner cone stem; transverse subtrochanteric shortening osteotomy.