Conversion of Hip Fusion to Total Hip Arthroplasty

Hip fusion provides adequate pain relief for various end-stage hip pathologies. However, this comes at the expense of motion, restricting most of daily-living activities. Conversion to a THA has been shown to restore range of motion, relieve pain, and decrease stress in adjacent joints. Furthermore, THA can enhance quality of life, improve function, and restore the ability to perform activities of daily living. This systematic review study to evaluate the indications, clinical outcome, complications, overall satisfaction and change in quality of life in patients underwent conversion of hip fusion to total hip arthroplasty. The electronic database search yielded 2154 studies; 1352 studies were duplicated so removed. After removal of 422 for language and sampling defects, 380 were screened according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. Only 11 studies were eligible, so included in qualitative synthesis in the current systematic review. Regarding the outcome assessment, 8 out of 11 studies used Harris hip score (HHS) for outcome evaluation, 2 out of 11 studies used Mayo score and only one study out of 11 studies used Merle d’Aubigne scale. The all included studies showed significant improvements of the scores postoperative and enhanced outcomes. Despite the lack of well deigned studies on the conversion to total hip arthroplasty, the present systematic review provides some evidence that total hip arthroplasty can aid to restore range of motion, relieve pain, and decrease stress in adjacent joints.