Quantification of clearance and creep in acetabular wear measurements

This study aimed to measure femoral head penetration before occurrence of real wear, and to quantify the portions attributable respectively to clearance and plastic deformations in various acetabular designs.

We analyzed CT scans from 15 patients at 'day five' after total hip arthroplasty (THA). All patients received Exafit(®) femoral stems and 28 mm heads: 5 patients had cemented Durasul(®) all-PE cups, 5 patients had un-cemented Allofit(®) metal-backed cups, and 5 patients had un-cemented Stafit(®) dual-mobility cups. We also analyzed CT scans of samples of the three head-cup combinations to compare in vivo and in vitro measurements.

The mean femoral head penetration measured on 'day five' was lower for all-PE cups (0.196 mm) than for metal-backed cups (0.551 mm) and dual-mobility cups (0.634 mm).

The present study indicates that isolated measurements of femoral head penetration include 0.15-0.46 mm of radial clearance and 0.05-0.27 mm of creep, and confirms that the majority of so-called bedding-in observed in the first post-operative months is not entirely due to wear.