The Association between Surgery Laterality in Orthopedists and the Choices of Prostheses in Total Knee and Hip Replacement

Abstract

Background: Most orthopedists are right-handed. However, osteoarthritis occurs with equal frequency over both sides. Does perfect and effective arthroplasty surgery require ambidextrous motor skills? Objectives: In this study, we aimed to investigate the clinical features of arthroplasty for hip and knee joints (THR and TKR) on different sides affected by orthopedist laterality. Patients and Methods: All right-handed orthopedists performed 64 right and 52 left primary THR among 100 patients, and 115 right and 118 left primary TKR among 192 patients. Clinical and surgical features were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed. The body mass index (BMI), inner diameter of acetabular cup liners (ACD), diameter of the femoral head (FHD), diameter of the femoral stem (FSD), and the femoral neck length (FNL) were included in THR-receiving patients. The BMI, femoral component (FC) size, tibial plate (TP) size, and thickness of articular surface inserts (ASI) were included in TKR-receiving patients. Results: No significant differences were observed in ACD, FHD and FSD between patients receiving right and left THR groups (p = 0.16, 0.11, and 0.05, respectively). Similarly, there were no significant differences in FC, TP, and ASI between patients receiving right and left TKR groups (p = 0.06, 0.80, and 0.46, respectively). However, FNL in left THR group was significantly longer than that in right THR group (p = 0.01). Conclusion: This study showed that dexterity or proprioception in handedness had no affect on bone resection and thicknesses of the polyethylene in TKR and acetabular reaming and femoral canal rasping in THR. However, it did lead to differences in femoral neck resection. Right-handed orthopedists significantly tend to perform excessive femoral neck cutting or prefer the larger size of FNL when performing left side THR, while no differences occur when performing TKR.