Wear and Fixation of the acetabular component in vivo evaluation of different polyethylenes and modes of fixation in total hip arthroplasty

Abstract: Polyethylene wear and micromotion of the implant play an important role in multifactorial etiology of osteolysis leading to aseptic loosening of the acetabular components. Despite excellent results in primary total hip arthoplasty in a 10-15 year perspective there are still unsolved problems. The weakest link is the longevity of the actabular component. Young and active patients have a clearly worse outcome than older patients. Consequences of polyehtylene wear and ways to reduce wear have therefore been in focus during recent years. Radiostereometry (RSA) is the golden standard in measuring in vivo micromotions. In 4 clinical studies including 332 patients we used therefore RSA to record the efficacy of fixation of cemented and uncemented cups. The amount of wear of old and newly designed polyethylenes (PE) was related to cup stability and radiological and clinical measures of outcome.This study showed that cementless cups inserted with pressfit technique do not need additional augmentation. Screws and pegs increase the risk for radiolucencies and osteolystic lesions but are helpful tools in cases where primary stability is jeopardized. In the second decade clinically silent osteolysis is common for the porous coated Harris Galante cup with unsealed screw holes. The locking mechanism of the PE liner in this cup is unsatisfactory and an increase of liner dissociations is expected. EtO sterilized PE displayed high in vivo wear and we do not recommend its continued use but close monitoring of patients with earlier inserted EtO sterilized implants. The substantially reduced wear in cemented highly cross-linked PE cups without any negative in vivo tradeoffs might have a substantial impact on choice of material and operating technique in the near future. However, we still recommend its restrained use in controlled series until longer follow-up data is available. Nevertheless, the short term in vivo results of modern highly cross-linked PE look promising and ight improve the outcome of cemented and uncemented hip arthroplasties by reducing complication and revisions.