Abstract
A 33-year-old woman underwent an uncemented bipolar hip arthroplasty for osteoarthrosis of the left hip in 1985. Because of painful aseptic loosening, the bipolar implant was revised to a total hip prothesis in 1994. Membranous tissues around the implant histologically presented foreign-body reaction against polyethylene debris. The retrieved implant showed polyethylene wear of the rim of the bipolar cup. Three-dimensional measurement of the surface configuration of the polyethylene of the cup indicated that wear debris had been generated almost exclusively from femoral bipolar neck-cup impingement. Volumetric wear in the articulating dome portion of the polyethylene was negligible. This report clearly illustrates how impingement of a bipolar cup on the femoral neck can be a major source of polyethylene wear debris which induces femoral osteolysis and subsequent stem loosening.
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Received: 9 February 1996
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Kobayashi, S., Takaoka, K., Tsukada, A. et al. Polyethylene wear from femoral bipolar neck-cup impingement as a cause of femoral prosthetic loosening. Arch Orth Traum Surg 117, 390–391 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004020050274
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004020050274