Efficacy of the use of templating in total hip arthroplasty

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional preoperative planning with the use of templating. METHOD: Forty-three anteroposterior X-rays were analyzed by three experienced surgeons (A, B, C) and compared. Cohen's Kappa concordance test and weighted Kappa indexes using quadratic weighting were used for statistical analysis with a confidence interval of 95%. RESULTS: The preoperative evaluations were divided into the analysis of the sizes of the acetabular cup, stem and plug of the distal femoral canal. Surgeon A obtained a moderate agreement in relation to the acetabular component and substantial agreements in relation to the stem and plug. Surgeon B had moderate agreement in relation to both the acetabulum and the stem and substantial agreement in relation to the plug. Surgeon C obtained moderate agreement in relation to the analysis of the acetabulum and the plug and substantial agreement for the stem. The intraobserver agreement test demonstrated a prevalence of slight agreement in relation to the acetabulum and substantial agreement in relation to the stem and to the plug. CONCLUSION: Templating used in preoperative planning proved effective; however, there was a prevalence of slight and moderate agreement in relation to the size of the acetabular component.