Stirrups to Minimize Complications of Prolonged Dorsal Lithotomy Positioning

Abstract

We evaluated the incidence of postoperative complications associated with positioning in 150 patients who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy or radical cystectomy with urinary diversion in the modified dorsal lithotomy position. English stirrups were used in the first 75 patients, whereas a new type of stirrup modified from a Krauss arm support was used in the second 75 patients. Use of the new stirrups in the second group significantly decreased the postoperative morbidity associated with the dorsal lithotomy position from 13.3 to 2.6 percent (p less than 0.05).