Use of an Ultrasound-Based Navigation System for an Accurate Acetabular Positioning in Total Hip Arthroplasty : A Prospective, Randomized, Controlled Study

The purpose of this study was to compare an ultrasound-based navigation system with an imageless navigation system with surface registration in the postoperative acetabular cup position. A prospective randomized controlled study of 2 groups of 40 patients each was performed. In the first group, cup positioning was assisted by an ultrasound-based navigation system, and in the second group, the cup was assisted by imageless navigation system with surface registration. There was significantly more outliers in the imageless navigation group. In addition, there was statistical significance in the anteversion angles and in the anteversion error between the imageless navigation and ultrasound-based navigation groups. Ultrasound-based navigation improves cup positioning in total hip arthroplasty better than an imageless navigation system by reducing the outliers, achieving a higher accuracy of anteversion.