Fate of bulk autografts in uncemented total hip arthroplasty. Evaluation by bone scintigraphy

To review short term results of uncemented cup implantation and the fate of bulk femoral head autografts in patients with acetabular bone deficiency due to dysplasia of the hip. We used bone scintigraphy to assess the viability of the grafts.

We treated 19 hip joints of 17 patients with osteoarthritis due to developmental dysplasia of the hip with uncemented total hip arthroplasty between 1997-2003 in the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. The average age was 49.1 (31-72 years), and the average follow up period was 36 months. We used femoral head autografts to reconstruct superolateral segmental deficiencies of the acetabuli. We evaluated the patients clinically and radiologically to assess acetabular loosening, and we used three-phase bone scintigraphy to evaluate the viability of the autograft.

There was no acetabular component revision throughout the follow up period. There was no radiological evidence of graft resorption or graft displacement in any of the patients. In bone scintigraphy, we observed hyperemia in the blood pool phase, and the osteoblastic activity of the bone graft was at the level of the neighboring iliac bone.

The application of a non-cemented acetabular component with femoral autograft in superolateral acetabulum deficiency increases the stability of the implant and increases the bone stock. It is not easy to evaluate the viability of the graft by the use of radiological methods. Bone scintigraphy gives sufficient information about the viability of the graft as a non-invasive method.