A Prospective Metal Ion Study of Large-Head Metal-on-Metal Bearing: A Matched-Pair Analysis of Hip Resurfacing Versus Total Hip Replacement

A Prospective Metal Ion Study of Large-Head Metal-on-Metal Bearing: A Matched-Pair Analysis of Hip Resurfacing Versus Total Hip Replacement Paul E. Beau le, Paul R. Kim, Amre Hamdi, and Anna Fazekas The current study measured ion release among large-head metal-on-metal hip bearings. Twenty-six patients with a modular, Profemur(R) TL with A-Class(R) big femoral head total hip replacement were matched (gender, femoral size, BMI) with a group of 26 patients with the Conserve(R) Plus implant hip resurfacing. Compared with HR patients, THR patients had higher median serum cobalt ion levels at 6 months (3.26 vs 1.12 mu g/L, P = .002) 1 year (4.51 vs 1.02, P = .002), and 2 years (3.77 vs 1.22, P<.001) following surgery. No differences in chromium ions were observed. Further research is required to determine the clinical significance of elevated serum cobalt ions.