Quality assurance in revision total hip arthroplasty

Abstract Objective To compare two different methods of clinical outcomes prospective documentation after revision hip arthroplasty: external and internal. Methods Chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test and binary logistic regression analyses were performed. Results Eighty one patients experienced a complication (520 arthroplasties). A significant difference was found between the two documentation methods in the variable “hematoma and postoperative hemorrhage”, and a significant reduction of the internally and externally documented “total complication rate”. Furthermore, the „length of hospital stay” and “duration of operation” predicted independently the occurrence of complications. Conclusion Further improvement of documentation methods is required to measure the perioperative morbidity.