title: Operative correction of an unstable total hip arthroplasty.
abstract: We reviewed the results of reoperation in ninety-five patients who had acute subluxation (ten patients) or dislocation (eighty-five patients) of the hip after conventional cemented total hip-replacement arthroplasty. Postoperatively, fifty-eight patients (61 per cent) had no subsequent dislocation or subluxation. Seven of thirty-seven patients who had had recurrent dislocation had occasional subluxation during follow-up. Of the remaining thirty patients in whom instability persisted after the reoperation, twenty-eight had at least one dislocation, and nine had bothersome subluxation. Ten of these thirty-seven patients had another operation for the persistent instability. The causes of instability were classified as malrotation of the component, disruption of the trochanteric-abduction mechanism, impingement, or multiple and unknown, and appropriate treatment was provided. The component was revised in forty-five patients, revision and advancement of the trochanteric component was done in twenty-five patients, and impinging bone or cement was removed from six patients; a combination of these procedures was done in nineteen patients. Over-all, fifty-eight procedures (61 per cent) were successful (no additional subluxations or dislocations). We concluded that the results of operative treatment for an unstable total hip replacement can be optimized when a precise determination of the cause of the instability is made and appropriate measures are applied.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55905.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Daly
authors.forename: B F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Morrey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006617:Hip Dislocation / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D006621:Hip Joint / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D006622:Hip Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D011859:Radiography; D012086:Reoperation