Abstract:Objective To compare the posterolateral minimally invasive approach with conventional posterior-lateral approach for bipolar artificial hip replacement in elderly patients. Methods Thirty two patients aged 60-80 years scheduled to undergo bipolar artificial hip replacement were divided into two groups randomly. The posterolateral minimally invasive approach was applied in 15 patients(study group) and the conventional posterior-lateral approach was used in 17 patients(control group). The volume of intraoperative blood loss, surgery time, length of incision, SF-36 score, Harris score, VAS score, amount of analgesic, infection of incision, infection around the prosthesis, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, prosthetic cacothesis, dislocation, aseptic loosening were recorded and compared between two groups. Results The length of incision, surgery time, the volume of intraoperative blood loss in study group were significantly lower than those in control group(P<0.05). The Harris score and SF-36 score on the second week after the operation in study group were significantly higher than those in control group(P<0.05). No severe complications were found in both groups. Conclusion Compared to conventional posterior-lateral approach, the posterolateral minimally invasive approach in hip arthroplasty has advantage of less invasiveness during surgery, quicker rehabilitation after operation, the less use of the analgesics. But more data and longer follow-up are needed for evaluation of this approach.