Orthopaedic crossfire--Larger femoral heads: a triumph of hope over reason! In the affirmative.

The authors' wear studies of total hip arthroplasty cohorts have shown that less polyethylene wear and less deleterious effects of third body debris were found when smaller femoral head sizes were used. The authors' sliding-distance-coupled finite element model findings were corroborated by these clinical wear studies. Thus, with polyethylene on metal bearing surfaces, less wear should occur when smaller head sizes are used. Careful, precise component positioning is important to prevent dislocation. Copyright 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.