BACKGROUND Minimally invasive prosthetic hip surgery (MIS) attempts to minimise the extent of the operation. The aim of the study was to describe minimally invasive hip surgery and to present early clinical experience of the authors. METHODS 41 minimally invasive hip replacements through a posterior approach were carried out at the Orthopaedic Department of the Postgraduate Medical Education Centre in Otwock between 2004 and 2006. 29 of those patients were included into the study, of whom 23 presented for follow-up. A control group consisted of 29 randomly selected patients operated on using the classical method. Patients qualified for MIS had a BMI below 30 and a structurally normal hip joint with a good range of motion. RESULTS Early results were subjected to a statistical analysis of 20 parameters. CONCLUSIONS 1. The analysis showed that statistically significant baseline differences between MIS and traditionally treated patients included only BMI scores, structure of the hip joint and range of motion. 2. Implantation of a hip endoprosthesis in a MIS procedure does not differ from the traditional operation utilising a posterior access except for skin incision length.