Impact of using a local protocol for preoperative screening exams in hip arthroplasty surgeries: cross-sectional study

Purpose: To evaluate the adoption of a protocol for patients undergoing primary total hip arthroplasty (PTA). Methods: 72 medical records of patients undergoing ATPQ were evaluated between 2016 and 2022. This is a cross-sectional retrospective study. The eligible patients were divided into two groups: group 1 – 36 arthroplasties before the adoption of the protocol; group 2 – 36 arthroplasties after the adoption of the protocol. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 13.0. Results: The mean age of the patients was 61 ± 11.7 years, being 42 males and 30 females. Pre-existing comorbidities were: systemic arterial hypertension (58%) and diabetes (18%) patients. The dominant side was operated on in 65% of cases. Patients were treated with cementless prosthesis (54%) of the cases and with hybrid prosthesis (40.3%). Only nine (12.5%) patients had infection. A significant difference was observed with the presence of infection in the group after the implementation of the protocol with a lower incidence. There was a lower infection rate in group 2 submitted to the application of the protocol, however, statistically the significance was not confirmed. Conclusion: It is concluded that the design of the institutional protocol has the potential to reduce postoperative infections in hip arthroplasty surgeries.