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Hip: A. Konyves and G. C. Bannister The importance of leg length discrepancy after total hip arthroplasty J Bone Joint Surg Br 2005; 87-B: 155-157 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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Response to Mr Kim

G C Bannister   (18 April 2005)

Does size matter?

Winston Y Kim   (25 February 2005)

Response to Mr Kim 18 April 2005
G C Bannister, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon NHS Send letter to journal: Re: Response to Mr Kim gordon.bannister{at}nbt.nhs.uk G C Bannister	Sir, We thank Mr Kim for his interest in our article. We found that patients who detected lengthening of their limbs had a less satisfactory outcome than those who perceived their limbs as being of shorter or equal length. The degree of lengthening did not correlate with a change in the Oxford hip score, which was the instrument we used to measure outcome. It appears that once the patients had perceived limb lengthening the outcome of their hip arthroplasty was adversely affected for a year following hip arthroplasty, which was the duration of our study. In a previous study from this unit it was found that the greater the physical lengthening, the greater was its perception. Thus lengthening of 5 mm was perceived by 16%, 6 mm to 10 mm by 53% and more than 10 mm by 100%. This study did not address functional outcome. G. C. BANNISTER A. KONYVES Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK.
Does size matter? 25 February 2005
Winston Y Kim, Specialist registrar orthopaedics Bolton Royal Infirmary, Bolton Send letter to journal: Re: Does size matter? wjykim{at}hotmail.com Winston Y Kim	Sir, I read with interest the article by Konyves et al1 in the February 2005 issue. Leg length discrepancy (LLD) is a common post-operative complication following total hip replacement and, as expected, patients who had increased LLD were more likely to detect LLD than those with short or equal leg lengths. Given the range of leg length discrepancy of the sample (-22 mm to 27 mm), it would have been interesting if the authors had been able to determine if correlation exists between the size of the discrepancy and resulting change in the Oxford hip score. If the perception of leg length discrepancy does not change with time as suggested by the authors, such data may provide useful prognostic information. W. Y. KIM, Bolton Royal Infirmary, Bolton, UK. 1. Konyves A, Bannister GC. The importance of leg length discrepancy after total hip arthroplasty. J Bone Joint Surg 2005;87-B:155-7.