Background
Proximal stem fixation by partial cementing is a new concept in hip arthroplasty. We conducted a prospective clinical and radiological analysis to evaluate the preliminary outcome of this new technique with the Option 3000® stem (Mathys Orthopaedics, Bettlach, Switzerland).
Methods and focus
One hundred and thirty-three hip replacements in 123 patients have been performed between 1996 and 2003: All of them were followed up regularly both clinically and radiological and 53 were analysed with the EBRA-FCA method. Eighty-six patients with 95 hips could be seen in August 2004. At this point of time, the mean follow-up time was 61 months (5.08 years) with a maximum of 100 months (8.33 years)
Results
The clinical data reported an average Harris Hip Score of 85.5. Nine stems had to be exchanged over the period of study. The EBRA-FCA analysis reported a mean subsidence less than 1.5 mm after 2 years, then an average stable subsidence of 2.4 mm. So the results are similar to the early results obtained with other fixation concepts and the long-term results appear promising.