The benefits of the Direct Anterior Approach in Hip
Resurfacing is avoidance of detaching major muscle
groups from bone, a higher likelihood of maintaining the
blood supply to the remaining femoral neck, less
likelihood of dislocation as the dynamic hip stabilizer
(short external rotators) is completely unaffected
(posterior approach releases all the dynamic stabilizer
of the hip), and less likelihood for the patient to
experience a limp since the abductor is not released
from the greater trochanter (as in the anterior lateral
approach).
The main disadvantages of the DAA is that it is more
difficult for the surgeon and not all patients are
candidates for DAA. We do not have long-term follow-up data on DAA,
but in the short term it appears that the DAA has a
shorter recovery phase, a shorter hospital stay,
improved component position and improved early function.
Note, while Dr. Kreuzer does not have enough data to
make these claims based upon statistical significance,
the data appear to have a trend in this direction.
