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Updated: Apr 11, 2026

Individualized Stem-positioning in Calcar-guided Short-stem Total Hip Arthroplasty
Published on: February 27, 2018
Stemmed femoral implants show lower failure rates in revision total knee arthroplasty
Charles L Nelson1, Maria Vanushkina2, Kaan Irgit3
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Background:
Stemmed femoral implants are not universally used in revision total knee arthroplasty. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the re-revision rate would be greater for revision total knees performed without stemmed femoral implants compared with revision total knees performed with stemmed femoral implants.
Methods:
All revision cases performed at a single institution between 2004 and 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. A total of 130 revision total knee arthroplasty procedures (63 Group 1; 67 Group 2) met the inclusion criteria.
Results:
Revisions performed without femoral stems failed more often than revisions with femoral stems (44% vs 9%, p<0.001) despite more severe pre-operative bone loss in groups that were revised with stems (p<0.05).
Conclusions:
We recommend that femoral stems be used routinely in procedures where a femoral implant is revised following a prior total knee arthroplasty.

