• Cass K Nakasone, Kelvin T Naito, Scott T Nishioka, and Samantha N Andrews.
• Department of Surgery, University of Hawai'i, 1356 Lusitana Street, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA. onohunter@icloud.com.
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2023 Aug 1; 143 (8): 535353595353-5359.

BackgroundCurrent femoral implants are manufactured based on Western anatomical structures and may be too large for smaller physiques, such as those of Asian females. This study reviewed the femoral stem size distribution used in a high-volume total hip arthroplasty (THA) practice and evaluated malalignment in patients receiving a size one implant.Materials And MethodsA consecutive cohort of female patients self-reported as Asian (257 patients, 331 hips) or Caucasian (158 patients and 190 hips) were retrospectively evaluated. A single femoral stem type was used in all cases, performed by a single surgeon. Global hip offset (GHO) and leg length difference (LLD) were measured before and 6 weeks following THA. Differences between races were evaluated through Mann-Whitney U tests and chi-squared tests for continuous and categorical variables, respectively.ResultsThe proportion of size one implants was higher amongst Asian patients (20.5%) than Caucasian patients (2.6%) (p < 0.001). A LLD greater than 6 mm was noted in 24.6% of size one patients and 11.4% of all other sizes (p = 0.010). Varus malalignment occurred in 47.9% of size one patients and 22.1% of all other sizes (p < 0.001). No fractures occurred in size one patients, and nine fractures (one intraoperative and eight post-operative) occurred in all other sizes (p = 0.258).ConclusionThe high proportion of size one stems required in Asian females and the higher incidence of LLD > 6 mm and varus malalignment suggest a distinct need for smaller femoral implants, especially for Asian females.© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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