As hip arthroplasty technology has evolved it has also broadened. Implant fixation, implant bearing surfaces, implant designs, operative approaches and perioperative care methods have proliferated and have been evaluated. Some have been adopted as advances, others have come and gone. One thing that has not changed is the recognition that, whatever the arthroplasty technology, operative technique is an essential element of operative success. The focus of this textbook on operative technique will therefore be welcome to its readers.

Diversity of opinion is an important element of any field, and as total hip arthroplasty has grown to an operation performed in many hundreds of thousands of patients a year worldwide, it has become a field entirely of its own. The editor, Dr Malhotra, provides the reader with a variety of perspectives, drawn from authors from India and from renowned hip surgeons from around the world. Orthopaedic surgeons will appreciate the breadth of perspective on many topics: for example, five different exposures are carefully described for primary total hip arthroplasty. This textbook also challenges the reader with a variety of new ideas that are still underdevelopment, including shorter uncemented femoral components, hip navigation, robotics in hip replacement, and hip arthroplasty in the outpatient setting. Finally, readers often turn to textbooks as a resource for challenging problems encountered in their own practice, and this book provides excellent information about treatment of some of the most difficult hip problems including total hip arthroplasty in hip dysplasia, after acetabular and proximal femoral fracture and in patients with femoral deformity, in addition to valuable insight into challenging revision problems such as periprosthetic fractures around hip arthroplasty, and the infected hip arthroplasty.

The readers of this textbook will appreciate the outstanding work of the editor and authors of this book, but the real beneficiaries of the book will be patients, who gain from the great experience and knowledge available to their surgeons in these pages.

The editor has put together a team of authors from around the world, many of which have strong international reputations. There is an extensive bibliography after each chapter which will serve as reference material for those wishing to do further research on the topics. The book is well illustrated with X-rays and art work of the highest quality.

Most impressive is the fact that the book is as up-to-date as a comprehensive text can be.

The early chapters talk about the principles, including design and the basic science of tribology and bearing materials. The authors then describe preoperative planning, soft tissue balancing, and detailed descriptions about every possible surgical approach to total hip replacement both primary and revision.

The chapters then cover cementation on both the acetabular and femoral side, and then some of the more controversial issues such as metal on metal hip resurfacing, computer navigation and the use of short stems for uncemented femoral components. They cover the difficult primary hip replacement for disorders such as dysplasia, bony ankylosis, acetabular defects, protrusio, juvenile arthritis, and, for proximal femoral and acetabular fractures. There are excellent chapters on robotics and navigation.

The authors then talk about revision arthroplasty of the hip including periprosthetic fractures of both the femur and the acetabulum, also both one stage and two stage revisions for infection.

The book is more ideally suited for surgeons doing primary joint replacements, but there is enough material related to surgical approaches, periprosthetic fractures and infection to be of significant use for surgeons doing revision arthroplasty of the hip.

The final three chapters deal with total hip replacement in the ambulatory care setting, search for the ideal implant, and reducing complications and costs.

Overall this is an excellent text and the editor is to be congratulated for putting together an international team of well-recognized authors, and covering enough topics for this to be a truly comprehensive text for surgeons doing total hip replacement.