OR / Prep · Orthopedic Surgery · open
You’re scrubbing into
Total hip arthroplasty
Why are we operating?
The operation of the century by results: the worn joint is replaced by a cup, a stem and a bearing, and a life's mobility often comes back with it.
Indication: End-stage hip arthritis with failed conservative care; displaced intracapsular neck-of-femur fractures in the right patient.
The operation in 4 steps
01Approach and dislocation
02Neck cut and acetabular preparation
03Femoral preparation and implants
04Closure and first steps
Danger zones
Sciatic nerve
The approach works millimetres from it: retractor blades lever near it, the hip is dislocated by rotating the leg around it, and limb lengthening stretches it.
Watch it done
Total hip replacement surgery: the full procedure
The whole operation in the operating room, from approach to reduction.
Source: Northwestern Medicine · Watch on YouTubeBasic skills total hip arthroplasty, part 1: approach and dislocation
The posterior approach step by step, for the assistant who wants to know what comes next.
Source: Orthopaedic Surgical Videos · Watch on YouTubeBasic skills total hip arthroplasty, part 2: acetabular preparation
Reaming and cup placement, with the angles that decide whether it dislocates.
Source: Orthopaedic Surgical Videos · Watch on YouTube
Conceptual teaching for learners preparing to observe and assist under supervision, not operative instructions. Five minutes from now you should know why this operation exists, what its shape is, and which structures it is designed not to injure.