Total hip arthroplasty in patients with high dislocation: a concise follow-up, at a minimum of fifteen years, of previous reports.

We report the updated results at a minimum of fifteen years after eighty-four consecutive total hip arthroplasties performed in sixty-seven female patients with high dislocation of the hip. Sixty-four arthroplasties were performed in forty-nine patients, between 1976 and 1994, with Charnley low-friction acetabular and femoral components inserted with cement; nineteen arthroplasties were performed in seventeen patients, between 1990 and 1994, with the hybrid technique (acetabular component inserted without cement and femoral component inserted with cement); and one arthroplasty was done in 1991, with cementless acetabular and femoral components. All patients were followed prospectively on the basis of clinical assessment according to the Merle D'Aubigné and Postel scoring system, as modified by Charnley, and with radiographic analysis. At the time of the latest follow-up, twenty-six hips (41%) in the low-friction arthroplasty series, ten hips (53%) in the hybrid series, and the one hip with the cementless components had been revised for various reasons. The primary reason for revision in the low-friction arthroplasty group was aseptic loosening of the components (twenty-four hips), whereas the predominant reason for the revisions in the hybrid series and in the hip with cementless components was progressive polyethylene liner wear (six hips). After the minimal follow-up of fifteen years, twenty-five low-friction hip replacements and eight hybrid-type hip replacements had remained intact for an average of twenty-one years (range, seventeen to thirty-two years) and sixteen years (range, fifteen to nineteen years), respectively. These findings may be used in comparisons of results with newer techniques and designs.