Safety Issue of Hip Resurfacing

Abstract

Hip Resurfacing (HR) development of the 1970s was an attempt to address the failures of conventional cemented stems. Those early HR designs failed because problems with maintaining bone under the resurfaced femoral head, and loosening of the socket with substantial acetabular bone loss. However technology, knowledge and surgical techniques have evolved over the past 45 years. The more recent designs like the Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) focused on metal to metal bearing surfaces. These devices are under attack and maybe they should be. However, lets not ignore the significant amount of information and potential improvements in both design technology and surgical techniques that have come about over the past few years.