Anterior Approach Surgery

Muscle Saving, Tissue Sparing

With the Anterior Approach, the surgeon uses one small incision on the front (anterior) of your hip. This technique allows the surgeon to work between your muscles and tissues without detaching them from either the hip or thighbones, sparing these tissues from trauma and a lengthy healing process. Keeping these muscles intact may also help prevent dislocations. Since the incision is in front, you’ll avoid the pain of sitting on the incision site.

Anterior Approach Incision

The Anterior Approach procedure for total hip replacement has been gaining popularity recently due to its numerous potential benefits:

• Possible accelerated recovery time because key muscles are not detached during the operation. (Some other procedures require cutting or disturbing the important muscles at the side or back of the leg.) The Anterior Approach is known as a tissue-sparing procedure because it avoids cutting these key muscles and tissues and therefore minimizes muscle damage
• Potential for fewer restrictions during recovery. Although each patient responds differently, this procedure seeks to help patients more freely bend their hip and bear their full weight immediately or soon after surgery
• Possible reduced scarring because the technique allows for one relatively small incision
• Potential for stability of the implant sooner after the surgery, resulting in part from the fact that the key muscles and tissues are not disturbed during the operation. The desired outcome is enhanced stability and less discomfort during the crucial recovery period

The Anterior Approach differs in multiple ways from other surgery techniques:

• The hip is exposed in a way that does not detach muscles or tendons from the bone
• A high-tech operating table is often used to help improve access and achieve excellent alignment and positioning of the implant
• Side-by-side TV screens can be used to provide x-ray views for better implant positioning
• A wider range of patients—including larger, heavier patients—may be candidates for minimally invasive hip surgery with this technique
• The Anterior Approach enters the body closer to the hip joint, with far less tissue between the skin and the bones of the hip, so more patients may be candidates

Your doctor will tell you what restrictions you will have after surgery, and every surgeon has his or her own set of precautions for you to follow. Some surgeons who use the Anterior Approach may place fewer restrictions in the days after surgery because the operation spares the major muscles of the thigh, allowing patients to get back to activities of daily living with fewer limitations.

Next: Minimally Invasive Surgery