Arthrodesis for the Severe Osteoarthritis of the Hip in the Middle Age

From 1976 to 1990, 17 hip arthrodeses have been performed for severe osteoarthritis at the National Misasa Onsen Hospital. The age of the patients ranged from 32 to 55 years at the time of the operation. Follow-up period was 4 months to 13 years (average, 3 years and 6 months).In the follow-up study, operated hips were evaluated using the JOA score. Results showed that preoperative total average score of 53.2 points (range, 32 to 68) was improved to 66.6 points (range, 50 to 76) postoperatively. Especially, pain score changed for the better from 15.3 points to 37.1. Nonunion rate was 17.6 per cent.We come to the conclusion that even recently, hip arthrodesis is one of the useful operation for severe osteoarthritis in the middle age.