[Therapy of burst ceramic head of a hip prosthesis]

The therapeutical possibilities in case of fracture of a ceramic head ball of a hip prosthesis system are discussed. A seventy year old patient suffered a fracture of a ceramic ball of a cemented hip prosthesis with polyethylene cup, ceramic ball and metal stem without trauma after one year after implantation. During operative revision a marked destruction of the gliding plane of the polyethylene cup by craters and an extreme metallose because of wear of the metal conus far into the bone bed of the acetabulum was found. The reason for the very seldom occurring fracture of the ceramic ball are minimal differences in the ascent grade of the metal conus of the stem and the corresponding connection of the ceramic ball. The broken ceramic ball should be substituted by a metal ball.