Abstract
Orthopaedic implants, such as femoral heads, sockets and stems, are manufactured with a high degree of smoothness and very low form error in order to function as low wear bearings. The surfaces are subject to both wear and damage during in vivo use. Articulating surfaces naturally wear during normal use. Aseptic loosening associated with osteolysis and release of wear particles is the main reason for revision of total hip arthroplasty (THA). Damage of femoral heads is well known to increase the wear rate at the articulating surface and is vulnerable to scratching during the maneuver of positioning the femoral component into the acetabulum component either in primary as in revision total hip arthroplasties. The findings emphasize the importance of achieving and maintaining good surface finish of the femoral head component.
The author presents a very simple and “zero cost” method of preventing scratching of the femoral head of any kind of total hip prosthesis (ceramic on ceramic, ceramic on poly, metal on metal, metal on poly and even metal on ceramic) when the reduction of the femoral head prosthesis is done inside the new acetabular component with metal, ceramic liner or poly liner with metal back (where the scratching can also occur) as one of the final stages of the surgical procedure which can be crucial to the long survival of the hip prosthesis.
A short one minute video on an e-poster will show how this can be done being an easy, reproducible, safe and reliable technique to prevent femoral head scratching.
