What's New in Hip Arthroplasty

There were numerous papers, abstracts, and presentations on the topic of adult hip reconstructive surgery during the past year. I elected to review the published articles from the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (American Volume), Journal of Arthroplasty, and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research. In addition, I reviewed all of the abstracts from major meetings focusing on hip reconstructive surgery, including the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the annual meeting of The American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, and the open meeting of the Hip Society. I also reviewed several abstracts from the meeting of the Orthopedic Research Society. The time-interval for the review was June 2001 to April 2002. The review involved more than 165 papers and 250 abstracts. I have organized the data into eight categories: (1) results of primary total hip arthroplasty, (2) results of revision total hip arthroplasty, (3) outcome measures, (4) metal ion release, (5) implant liability, (6) osteolysis, bone-remodeling, and bearing surface, (7) osteonecrosis of the femoral head, and (8) complications. Last year’s review included extensive data regarding the clinical results of a variety of surgical techniques, disease entities, and associated complications. In the current review, I have focused principally on newer data that were presented over the past year.