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Original Article

Inferior Survival of Hydroxyapatite versus Titanium-coated Cups at 15 Years

Maiken Stilling¹, Ole Rahbek¹ and Kjeld Søballe¹

(1)	Department of Orthopaedics, Aarhus University Hospital, Tage-Hansens Gade 2, Building 10A, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

Received: 16 September 2008 Accepted: 5 March 2009 Published online: 28 March 2009

Abstract Hydroxyapatite (HA) particles have long been suspected to disintegrate from implant surfaces, become entrapped in joint spaces of orthopaedic bearing couples, and start a cascade leading to progressive polyethylene (PE) wear, increased osteolysis, and aseptic loosening. We compared cup revision at 15 years’ followup in a randomized group of patients with 26 cementless THA components with titanium (Ti) versus first-generation HA coating. We also assessed radiographic PE wear and osteolysis to the 12-year followup or end point revision at a minimum of 5 years (mean, 10.9 years; range, 5–12.6 years). Two Ti-coated cups (17%) and eight HA-coated cups (57%) were revised at 15 years’ followup. Femoral head penetration rate was 0.46 mm/year (standard deviation, 0.26) with the HA-coated cups (n = 12) and 0.38 mm/year (standard deviation, 0.14) with the Ti-coated cups (n = 10); we observed a wide variance of linear wear with the HA-coated cups. We also observed a positive association between high wear rate and revision, and between a high volume of osteolysis and revision. Our findings suggest inferior survival of medium-thickness spray-dried HA-coated cups with individual cases of excessive PE wear and premature cup failure. These findings apply to first-generation modular cups and may not apply to other cup designs and new HA-coating technologies.

Level of Evidence: Level III, therapeutic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Each author certifies that he or she has no commercial associations (eg, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.

Each author certifies that his or her institution has approved the human protocol for this investigation, that all investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research, and that informed consent for participation in the study was obtained.

This study was performed at Aarhus University Hospital.

Maiken Stilling
Email: maiken.stilling@ki.au.dk

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