ORLANDO, Fla. — Research presented here highlighted patient and surgeon factors associated with the development of motor nerve palsy after primary total hip arthroplasty.
“We did find characteristics that are significantly associated with developing motor nerve palsies. It was a younger age than 50 [years], a start time of later than 4 pm, a history of lumbar disease — and that lends to the theory there may be a double crush on the nerve, one compression at the lumbar spine and one at the hip — a smoking history, and there was a definite association with the surgeon,” Edwin P. Su, MD, said during his presentation at the Current Concepts in Joint Replacement Winter Meeting. “These factors can help you consul your patients, perhaps stratify your patients, maybe change things and do patients who are higher risk earlier [in the day].”
To understand the risk factors of motor nerve palsy, Su and his colleagues at Hospital for Special Surgery studied 39,056 primary total hip arthroplasties (THAs) performed at the hospital during a 15-year period. 