Because of improvements in surgical technique, anesthesia, and rehabilitation, mortality after hip arthroplasty may be on
the decline. The purpose of this study was to determine the 90-day mortality rate after uncemented total hip arthroplasty
(THA) performed under regional anesthesia. We retrospectively reviewed 7478 consecutive patients undergoing cementless primary
or revision THA between January 2000 and July 2006. Patient survivorship was established and causes of death were obtained
by accessing the Social Security Death Index, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Death Index, and State Departments
of Vital Statistics. There were two intraoperative deaths from cardiac arrest. The overall 30- and 90-day mortality rates
were 0.24% (18 of 7478) and 0.55% (41 of 7478), respectively. Thirty-day mortality after primary THA was low at 0.13% (eight
of 6272). The most common cause of death was cardiovascular-related. Mortality after modern THA seems to have remained very
low despite the availability of this procedure to patients of all ages and comorbidities.
Level of Evidence: Level IV, therapeutic study. See the Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
One or more of the authors (JP, PFS, and RHR) are consultants for Stryker Orthopedics. No funding was used for this research.
Each author certifies that his or her institution has approved the human protocol for this investigation, that all investigations
were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research, and that informed consent was not required for the study.