The Harris-Galante porous-coated acetabular component with screw fixation. An average ten-year follow-up study

Two hundred and thirty-seven consecutive primary acetabular reconstructions were performed, in 213 patients, with use of a Harris-Galante porous-coated acetabular component with screw fixation between January 1984 and December 1987. Twenty-four patients (twenty-seven hips) died before a minimum duration of follow-up of eighty-four months, five patients (five hips) were too ill to return for a detailed follow-up examination at the time of the study, four patients (four hips) refused clinical and radiographic follow-up (but one of these patients had more than eighty-four months of follow-up for one side of a bilateral total hip replacement), two patients (two hips) were lost to follow-up, and two patients (two hips) refused radiographic follow-up but had adequate clinical follow-up. In addition, one patient who had had a bilateral total hip replacement had a resection arthroplasty on one side because of a late infection 115 months after the index procedure. Thus, 196 hips (83 per cent) in 177 patients were available for radiographic and clinical review after an average duration of follow-up of 122 months (range, eighty-four to 155 months). The average age of these 177 patients at the time of the operation was fifty-nine years (range, twenty-three to eighty-seven years). Eight well fixed acetabular shells (4 percent) were revised: three were revised because of dissociation of the liner in association with fractures of the tines, three were revised during revision of the femoral component, and two were revised because of retroacetabular osteolysis. In eight other hips, the acetabular liner was exchanged during revision of a loose femoral component. No acetabular component migrated, was classified as radiographically loose, or was revised because of aseptic loosening. There was no evidence of fragmentation or disruption of the titanium porous mesh of any cup. One of 528 screws broke. There were no complications associated with the insertion of the acetabular fixation screws. Osteolytic lesions were identified adjacent to nine (5 percent) of the 188 acetabular components that were in place at the time of the most recent examination. One hip, which had discontinuous osteolytic lesions in all three acetabular zones, was treated with bone-grafting around the well fixed acetabular component. Eight hips had a discontinuous radiolucent line that was 1.0 millimeter wide or less in all three zones and another two had a continuous radiolucent line that was 0.5 millimeter wide in all three zones. The average Harris hip score for the 188 hips (169 patients) that did not have revision of the acetabular shell improved from 47 points (range, 22 to 71 points) preoperatively to 89 points (range, 35 to 100 points) at the time of the latest examination. One hundred and thirty-four hips had an excellent result; twenty-six, a good result; nineteen, a fair result; and nine, a poor result. All nine hips that had a poor result were in patients who had other factors, unrelated to the acetabular component, that contributed to the low Harris hip score. In the present study, the Harris-Galante porous-coated acetabular component continued to provide excellent fixation and clinical results for most patients at an average of approximately ten years after the operation.