Hip Socket Erosion Study

Some orthopaedic surgeons believe that relatively 'young' older patients (aged ≤ 75 years) who have sustained a femoral neck fracture should be treated with hemiarthroplasty (HA) instead of total hip arthroplasty (THA). The rationale behind this belief is that THA is more time consuming, has greater associated surgical morbidity and may increase the risk of hip dislocation and subsequent revision surgery. On the other hand, HA is believed to accelerate acetabular erosion (i.e. wear) over time, which may ultimately lead to the need for conversion surgery from HA to THA. Due to a lack of research in this area, it is unclear how often the development of acetabular erosion in patients after HA actually occurs. This makes it difficult for orthopaedic surgeons to make an informed choice between HA or THA surgery for this patient group. This is an exploratory retrospective study using existing electronic patient data of patients adhering to the inclusion criteria of the study, i.e. patients of ≤ 75 years of age who have had HA after a femoral neck fracture.