Extract
We read with great interest the article "Surgical Treatment of
Limb-Length Discrepancy Following Total Hip Arthroplasty"
(2003;85:2310-7), by Parvizi et
al. The study retrospectively reviewed the cases of twenty-one patients who
had had revision total hip replacement for limb-length discrepancy. According
to the authors, in six patients (Cases 2, 6, 9, 12, 13, and 20), the primary
problem leading to limb-length inequality was excessive anteversion or
retroversion of the acetabular component. In these patients, there was no
obvious longitudinal malalignment of the cup or of the femoral component
(Table I). All of these six patients underwent revision of the acetabular
component alone, and the limb lengths equalized in four patients and the
discrepancy decreased in the other two.