Hip Resurfacing: a 40-Year Perspective

Background

Saving bone by resurfacing the femoral head is not a new concept and the appeal for this type of hip replacement has remained despite the difficulties to find a bearing material suitable for this procedure.

Purpose

In this article, the unique experience of a surgeon who has been performing hip resurfacing since its early development is presented, along with a comparative analysis of the performance of successive designs.

Results

The overall 10-year Kaplan–Meier survivorship of the early designs with polyethylene bearings did not exceed 62% while that of the current Conserve®Plus metal-on-metal hybrid design implanted with second generation surgical technique is in excess of 92%. Further exceptional, in the 10-year survivorship, 99.7% has been achieved with femoral size of 46 mm and good bone quality. Cementless acetabular components provide better enduring fixation than cemented designs.

Discussion

Metal-on-metal is currently and fortunately the only highly successful bearing material that can combine low wear rates and the manufacturing of a thin acetabular component to preserve bone and still accommodate the large femoral head of a hip resurfacing. The adverse local tissue reactions (ALTR) associated with metal-on-metal devices are not a bearing material issue per se but one of the device design and surgical technique. Almost all of ALTR and the rare events of systemic toxicity are due to abnormal wear patterns which can be prevented by proper acetabular component design and precise socket orientation in both the coronal and sagittal planes. Further improvements of the long-term durability with hip resurfacing can be anticipated with the use of recently developed trabecular bone-like tantalum or titanium porous coatings and with proper training of the surgeons interested in performing hip resurfacing arthroplasty.