[Bearing surfaces in primary hip arthroplasty. Is there any difference?]

In primary hip replacement, different materials are used for bearing surfaces. In our medium metal or ceramic heads with highly crossed-linked polyethylene (PA) are the most used. These combinations have good results, but it is not clear which is clinically superior. The objective of this study is to determine whether there is any clinically significant difference based on a systematic review of the literature and national registries of arthroplasty.

We conduct a systematic review of the literature and national registries of arthroplasty and we were looking for studies comparing bearing surfaces: ceramic-highly cross-linked polyethylene (CP) and metal-highly cross-linked polyethylene (MP); describing the revision rate according to the surface type with a minimum 10-year follow-up. The outcome evaluated was: review rate for any cause depending on surface type.

Two out of fifteen national registries were included. The Australian registry shows a difference in the 15-year revision rate: CP: 6.3 (IC 5.8, 6.7) vs MP: 5.1 (IC 4.6, 5.7). The New Zealand registry shows no differences in revision rate/100 components/year: CP 0.54 (0.48-0.61) vs MP 0.61 (0.57-0.66). We do not find clinical studies with inclusion criteria that answer the research question.

The results of this review show a high survival rate with the use of highly cross-linked polyethylene, the results are similar when using ceramic or metal heads.