Charnley low-friction arthroplasty: a worldwide retrospective review at 15 to 20 years.

This is a retrospective survivorship analysis review of 5089 Charnley low-friction arthroplasties performed as a primary procedure at 8 hospitals around the world before December 31, 1980. Data collected were simple with a well-defined endpoint: death or revision. There was no clinical or radiographic evaluation. The mean age at operation was 63 years; 57% of hips were in women, and 43% were in men. The preoperative diagnosis was primary osteoarthrosis in 74% of hips. Kaplan-Meier survivorship analysis using failure as revision of any component for any cause showed probability of survival at 20 years of 83% (women, 86%, and men, 78%). In patients aged 70 to 80 at surgery, probability of survival was 92%; in patients aged < or =40, probability of survival was 67%. This study showed almost identical durability of the femoral versus acetabular component-87%. Copyright 2002, Elsevier Science (USA).