Ten-year results of a cemented mild grit blasted titanium-aluminium-vanadium stem in total-hip-arthiroplasly.

Purpose: Are the results of cemented titanium hip arthroplasty as bad as described in literature? We present the 10-year results of a cemented mild grid blasted Titanium-Aluminium-Vanadium Stem in Total-Hip-Arthroplasty. Methods: The clinical and radiological reexamination was documented in standardized questionnaire in which several scores were integrated. All Xrays were stored and analysed by a special hardware and software computer system. Results: 35% of all patients could be reexamined both clinically and roentgenologically. 71 patients were male (mean age 56,1 years) and 130 female (mean age 59,3 years). The average follow-up period was 11 years and 4 months. The mean Merle d'Aubigne hip score increased from 10,5 to 16,0 points at the follow-up evaluation. Radiolucent lines were according to the zones of Gruen seen in 1% to 22% depending on the zone and the size of the femoral component. 18 reoperations of the femoral component (2,9%) had to be performed. The survivorship analysis (Kaplan-Meier) showed a 95,4% survival of the femoral component after 10 years. Conclusion: Our findings with a cemented mild grid blasted Titanium-Aluminum-vanadium stem demonstrate excelent results unlike it was reported for cemented femoral components of similar alloy but different design and cementation philosophy.