Patterns of changes in femoral bone mineral density up to five years after hip resurfacing

This is a prospective study of 26 patients (29 hips) on the patterns of change in the Bone Mineral Density (BMD) in various zones of the femoral neck and proximal femur five years after hip resurfacing. We have found that BMD continues to positively change up to five years after hip resurfacing. This was observed primarily in the trochanteric and superior neck regions. In both these regions BMD had decreased by up to 10% at six-weeks and three-months after surgery and then had recovered to preoperative level by one year. A regression analysis to assess the influence of age, gender, BMI, preoperative BMD, component size and orientation revealed that the best predictor of change in BMD at five years in the trochanteric area was acetabular component inclination.