Comparison of two cementing techniques: femoral component insertion into early-cure stage cement and insertion into late-cure stage cement in an in vivo model to identify if cement cure stage affects the strength of the bone cement interface.

Bilateral arthroplasties – using only the femoral component - were performed in vivo on paired porcine femora. The femora were harvested and cross-sectioned in preparation for strength testing. Performance was measured by peak load required to push the femoral prosthesis and surrounding cement mantle free of the cancellous bone.

The mean failure load for prostheses inserted into late cure stage cement was 908 N +/− SD 420, whereas the mean failure load for the conjugate early cure stage cement was 503 N +/− SD 342. A paired t-test indicated significantly higher load failure rates in the late cure stage cement versus the early cure stage samples (t=2.37, p< 0.049).

Femoral component insertion into late cure stage cement required statistically significant higher loads for push-out when compared to femoral component insertion into early cure stage cement.