A minimally invasive approach for total hip arthroplasty does not diminish early post-operative outcome in obese patients: a prospective, randomised trial

134 patients were randomized to undergo total hip arthroplasty (THA) using either the transgluteal (Bauer) or minimally invasive (MicroHip) methods. Within each group, patients were stratified based on their body mass index (BMI): patients with a BMI greater than 30 kg/m^2 were put into one group, while patients with a BMI less than 30 kg/m^2 were put into the other. Overall, the purpose of this study was to compare how the two methods differed in both obese patients and non-obese patients. 3 months following THA, the results indicated that functional and clinical results did not differ significantly between obese and non-obese patients who underwent THA using either the minimally invasive approach (MicroHip) or the transgluteal, lateral approach (Bauer), indicating that obesity does not appear to diminish the early post-operative benefits of minimally invasive total hip arthroplasty.