Conversion total hip replacement. Review of 140 hips with greater than 6-year follow-up study

The authors compared 140 conversion with 433 primary total hip arthroplasties with a 40-month minimum follow-up period. All replacements were performed with a transtrochanteric technique. No conversion total hip arthroplasty had prior cementation. Pain was the indication for surgery. The average number of prior operations was 1.3 and the average number of months to total hip arthroplasty was 65.4. The patient characteristics for the two groups were similar. The overall results were uniformly good to excellent (94% or better) at greater than 6-year mean follow-up in both groups. The authors review important differences between the two groups. None of the differences are statistically significant. The overall results of conversion total hip arthroplasty were good to excellent, and the presence of a preoperative infection did not significantly alter the clinical results. The absence of prior bone cement in conversion total hip arthroplasty is proposed to explain these findings.