title: Replacement of endoprosthetic implants within a two years follow-up period: a statutory health insurance routine data analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The statutory health insurance system embodies a large amount of data on the treatments of their members. Depending on joint, prosthesis type, patient activity and comorbidity, knee and hip replacements can last up to 20 years. Based on statutory health insurance data the main object of this analysis was to investigate how high the early revision rate of replacements actually is.
  
  
  METHODS
  The number of replacements in the years 2005 and 2006 has been extracted from the TK database for hip (OPS-Code 5-820, n = 20,875), knee (OPS 5-822, n = 13,466), upper limbs (OPS 5-824, n = 901), and lower limbs (OPS 5-826) replacements. This data has then been related to each consecutive operation (i. e. change or excision of joint endoprosthesis) over a joint-specific observation period of two years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 3.7% of the cases joint replacements stood for less than 2 years (hip 3.5%, knee 3.8%, upper limbs 6.5%, and lower limbs 5.5%). There is a significantly positive correlation between the treatment data of the hospitals and the outcome as to low rates of reoperations at early stages. The main reason for short lifetime (76 - 81%) is mechanical failure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The percentage of joint endoprostheses with significantly short lifetimes has been unexpectedly high. The de facto lifetimes of joint endoprostheses thus often do not match the manufacturers' information. The authors strongly support the idea of a national endoprosthesis register as such a register could give detailed information on firstly whether these deficits are due to material defects, osteolysis or dislocation and secondly which products are mainly affected.
authors.affiliation: Wissenschaftliches Institut der TK für Nutzen und Effizienz im Gesundheitswesen (Scientific Institute of the Techniker Krankenkasse for Benefit and Efficiency in Health Care), Bramfelder Straße 140, Hamburg, 22305, Germany. prof.dr.roland.linder@wineg.de
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Linder
authors.forename: Hardy
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grenz-Farenholtz
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stockheim
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Verheyen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019644:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019645:Arthroplasty, Replacement, Knee / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020878:Device Removal; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006622:Hip Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D007720:Knee Prosthesis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D012042:Registries; D012086:Reoperation; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult