Polyethylene Wear Associated with 26 and 32 mm Heads in Total Hip Arthroplasty. A Multicenter, Prospective Study

• Published in: The Journal of arthroplasty 2016-12, Vol.31 (12), p.2805-2809
• Main Authors: Hagio, Keisuke, MD, Saito, Masanobu, MD, Okawa, Takahiro, MD, Moriyama, Shigeaki, Nakamura, Yoshinari, MD, Naito, Masatoshi, MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip - instrumentation; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Chromium; Cobalt; Female; Femur Head; highly cross-linked polyethylene; Hip Joint - diagnostic imaging; Hip Prosthesis - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Joints; Male; Middle Aged; Orthopedics; penetration rate; Polyethylene - analysis; polyethylene thickness; Prospective Studies; Prosthesis Design; Prosthesis Failure; Radiography; total hip arthroplasty; wear
• ISSN: 0883-5403; 1532-8406
• DOI: 10.1016/j.arth.2016.05.063

Abstract Background Although there were many clinical studies of highly cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) wear among different femoral head diameter, few referred to thickness of XLPE in case larger femoral heads were used because smaller sockets were frequently used for Asian population. Methods This prospective study included 240 hips that underwent primary total hip arthroplasty using XLPE combined with 26 mm (Group S) or 32 mm (Group L) cobalt-chromium head with maximum follow-up of 10 years. We measured three-dimensional (3-D) linear penetration rate of XLPE among same implant design groups except head diameter and estimated the validity of thinner XLPE. Results Our study demonstrated comparable 3-D linear penetration rates, which were 0.06 ± 0.07 mm/year for Group S and 0.03 ± 0.02 mm/year for Group L at 10 years after surgery and penetration rates seemed to be almost constant with no significant difference after 3 years. Minimum liner thickness (5.3 mm for 48 mm socket in combination with 32 mm femoral head) and the second thinnest XLPE (6.3 mm in case of socket from 50 mm to 54 mm combined with 32 mm femoral head) was distributed in 25 % and 72 % with Group L respectively, and there were no significant differences in penetration rates between 5.3 mm and 6.3 mm thickness groups Conclusion Our study suggested that whether to select 26 mm or 32 mm diameters of femoral head does not affect XLPE wear in combination with this type of articulation.