Complications with Direct Anterior Approach in Total Hip Replacement: Navigating Successfully to Avoid Common Pitfalls

The direct anterior approach (DAA) for total hip replacement (THR) has been gaining traction as a muscle-sparing approach.Common complications encountered as documented in literature are difficulty in exposure, nerve damage, acetabular component malposition, intraoperative fractures, excessive drainage post-surgery, wound complications, and infection.We share our experience of THR cases done with DAA with essential inputs to mitigate these common complications.We believe DAA is a safe approach with a reasonable learning curve after proper training.After the initial learning curve of around 15-20 cases and with experience, the complications with DAA are comparable to other approaches, with the added advantage of faster recovery and reduced hospital stay.