Current status of noncemented hip implants

Recently the operative techniques, instrumentation, design, and material properties of bony ingrowth total hip replacement have been greatly improved. I prefer a hemispherical acetabular component fixed with screws going through the metal shell. The titanium mesh allows microinterlock with new bone, and macrointerlock is obtained by adding bone graft into the unused screw holes. The femoral component, made of Tivanium with titanium mesh attached to it by a new process called diffusion bonding, retains superalloy fatigue strength characteristics. An intimate press fit is assured by the specific operative technique, and both the fiber mesh and the collar provide proximal stress transfer. The design affords a nondestructive method for removal if necessary. The short-term clinical results are promising; most patients function as well as with cemented total hip replacement. The incidence of thigh pain has been significantly reduced since prior reports of cementless total hip replacement; however, a few patients still have thigh pain. The results in revision surgery are also promising, but as in cemented total hip replacement, the functional capacity of revision cases is usually lower than primary cases. There is an increased capacity to correct complex and difficult acetabular problems with this acetabular component. Obviously, long-term data are needed to establish the behavior of these implants over the immediate and long term.