Is surgery without curettage effective for periacetabular Metastasis? Insights from a survival study of 93 patients

The main aim of this study was to analyse the 6-month survival rates in peri-acetabular metastasis patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA) with an acetabular cage and without curettage. The secondary objectives were to analyse the global survival rates, the factors influencing patient survival and to evaluate mechanical complication rates after THA.

This study was carried out on a cohort of 93 consecutive patients who underwent THA with an acetabular cage without curettage for acetabular metastasis or multiple myeloma lesions between 2010 and 2020. The National Death Registry was consulted to obtain the exact date of death of the patients; the minimum follow-up time was 2 years.

The 6-month survival rate for all types of cancer was 78 % [68 - 85], the 1-year survival rate was 66 % [55 - 74], and the 5-year survival rate was 26 % [17 - 36]. The median overall survival for the cohort was 24.37 months [16.10 - 32.63]. The mean overall survival was 46.02 months [32.89 - 59.16]. At last contact, 86 % of the operated patients were walking again.No patient died from surgery. The ECOG performance status score, the number of bone metastatic sites, the presence of visceral metastases and the number of lines of systemic therapy undertaken prior to surgery were negative survival factors. Three patients (3.2 %) had early prosthetic dislocation, 2 patients (2.2 %) showed aseptic loosening of her partial hip implant after 10 and 11 years respectively and 4 patients (4.3 %) had an early infection treated by debridement, antibiotics and implant retention to control the infection. During the follow-up period, no new femoral metastases were detected in any patient.

Surgery without curettage is an effective treatment for periacetabular metastasis. It gives reliable results, regardless of the type of acetabular lesion, allowing most patients to walk again and does not modify the patient's survival.