Hip disarticulation using the lateral approach: a new technique.

A new approach to hip disarticulation is described. This technique uses a laterally based racquet incision. The advantage of this incision is that it uses a lateral approach to the hip, which is familiar to orthopaedic surgeons. This approach is combined with a circumferential incision to facilitate exposure of neurovascular structures. By basing the incision on the lateral approach to the hip, dissection of large blood vessels is minimized, which helps to decrease operative blood loss. Viability of the soft tissue flaps is excellent, with only two minor wound complications occurring. Phantom limb pain was minimal, and no patient required pain medication beyond the 3-month postoperative routine. The three patients who chose to use prostheses had no difficulty from the incisions. The clinical significance of this study is to enable orthopaedic surgeons to do hip disarticulation using the familiar anatomy of the lateral approach to the hip.