Impact of bone quality on surgical decision-making in total hip arthroplasty: a qualitative analysis in the UK

Introduction For total hip arthroplasty (THA) to be successful, surgeons need to make several decisions ranging from implant choice to impaction force. It is unclear, however, whether and how bone quality affects surgeon’s decision-making and how surgeons evaluate bone quality.Objectives This induct...

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Main Authors: Stella Mavroveli, Justin Cobb, Sanjeeve Sabharwal, Monil Karia, Alex Abouharb
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2025-01-01
Series:BMJ Open
Online Access:https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/1/e088081.full
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author Stella Mavroveli
Justin Cobb
Sanjeeve Sabharwal
Monil Karia
Alex Abouharb
author_facet Stella Mavroveli
Justin Cobb
Sanjeeve Sabharwal
Monil Karia
Alex Abouharb
author_sort Stella Mavroveli
collection DOAJ
description Introduction For total hip arthroplasty (THA) to be successful, surgeons need to make several decisions ranging from implant choice to impaction force. It is unclear, however, whether and how bone quality affects surgeon’s decision-making and how surgeons evaluate bone quality.Objectives This inductive/deductive qualitative hybrid study aims to explore the impact of bone quality on the decision-making of surgeons performing elective primary THA. This study will evaluate: (1) whether surgeons consider bone quality as an important factor for surgical decision-making; (2) how bone quality influences surgical decision-making; and (3) how surgeons assess bone quality preoperatively and intraoperatively.Design This is a qualitative study, involving inductive/deductive hybrid thematic analysis.Setting Semistructured interviews were conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams and on hospital premises.Participants Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to recruit consultant orthopaedic surgeons specialised in elective lower limb arthroplasty.Results 10 surgeons from eight centres in the UK were interviewed. Thematic saturation was achieved after eight interviews. 5 main themes and 13 subthemes were identified. Bone quality impacted decisions around preoperative planning, surgical procedure, implant choice, concerns of iatrogenic injury and hip biomechanics. Many surgeons (7/10) described changing surgical procedure based on their intraoperative assessment of bone quality. There was consensus that cemented femoral fixation is superior in patients with poor bone quality and on the importance of assessing radiographs preoperatively. There was, however, a lack of consensus on optimal acetabular fixation method, the radiographs metrics used to measure bone quality and attitudes towards current guidelines.Conclusions Bone quality has a significant impact on the decision-making of experienced arthroplasty surgeons, though there are significant limitations and divergence in current methods of assessing bone quality. Further work to identify intraoperative and preoperative imaging metrics that correlate with bone mechanical properties could enhance surgical decision-making.
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spelling doaj-art-fcc0413e46bd4b6f9f217cbd2be971352025-01-09T14:30:12ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552025-01-0115110.1136/bmjopen-2024-088081Impact of bone quality on surgical decision-making in total hip arthroplasty: a qualitative analysis in the UKStella Mavroveli0Justin Cobb1Sanjeeve Sabharwal2Monil Karia3Alex Abouharb42 Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK1 MSk Lab, Imperial College London, London, UK1 MSk Lab, Imperial College London, London, UK1 MSk Lab, Imperial College London, London, UK1 MSk Lab, Imperial College London, London, UKIntroduction For total hip arthroplasty (THA) to be successful, surgeons need to make several decisions ranging from implant choice to impaction force. It is unclear, however, whether and how bone quality affects surgeon’s decision-making and how surgeons evaluate bone quality.Objectives This inductive/deductive qualitative hybrid study aims to explore the impact of bone quality on the decision-making of surgeons performing elective primary THA. This study will evaluate: (1) whether surgeons consider bone quality as an important factor for surgical decision-making; (2) how bone quality influences surgical decision-making; and (3) how surgeons assess bone quality preoperatively and intraoperatively.Design This is a qualitative study, involving inductive/deductive hybrid thematic analysis.Setting Semistructured interviews were conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams and on hospital premises.Participants Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used to recruit consultant orthopaedic surgeons specialised in elective lower limb arthroplasty.Results 10 surgeons from eight centres in the UK were interviewed. Thematic saturation was achieved after eight interviews. 5 main themes and 13 subthemes were identified. Bone quality impacted decisions around preoperative planning, surgical procedure, implant choice, concerns of iatrogenic injury and hip biomechanics. Many surgeons (7/10) described changing surgical procedure based on their intraoperative assessment of bone quality. There was consensus that cemented femoral fixation is superior in patients with poor bone quality and on the importance of assessing radiographs preoperatively. There was, however, a lack of consensus on optimal acetabular fixation method, the radiographs metrics used to measure bone quality and attitudes towards current guidelines.Conclusions Bone quality has a significant impact on the decision-making of experienced arthroplasty surgeons, though there are significant limitations and divergence in current methods of assessing bone quality. Further work to identify intraoperative and preoperative imaging metrics that correlate with bone mechanical properties could enhance surgical decision-making.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/1/e088081.full
spellingShingle Stella Mavroveli
Justin Cobb
Sanjeeve Sabharwal
Monil Karia
Alex Abouharb
Impact of bone quality on surgical decision-making in total hip arthroplasty: a qualitative analysis in the UK
BMJ Open
title Impact of bone quality on surgical decision-making in total hip arthroplasty: a qualitative analysis in the UK
title_full Impact of bone quality on surgical decision-making in total hip arthroplasty: a qualitative analysis in the UK
title_fullStr Impact of bone quality on surgical decision-making in total hip arthroplasty: a qualitative analysis in the UK
title_full_unstemmed Impact of bone quality on surgical decision-making in total hip arthroplasty: a qualitative analysis in the UK
title_short Impact of bone quality on surgical decision-making in total hip arthroplasty: a qualitative analysis in the UK
title_sort impact of bone quality on surgical decision making in total hip arthroplasty a qualitative analysis in the uk
url https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/1/e088081.full
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