A new technique for measuring wear in total hip arthroplasty using computed tomography.

Accurately estimating polyethylene wear in 3 dimensions, without the need for additional procedures or equipment, is of significant interest. We investigated the use of a high-resolution clinical computed tomographic (CT) scanner to estimate femoral head displacement relative to the cup as an indirect method of estimating polyethylene wear. A hip phantom was used to simulate the 3-dimensional displacement of a femoral head. The phantom was imaged in a high-resolution CT scanner. The mean difference between the true phantom displacement as positioned by micrometers and the calculated displacement based on the CT images was as follows: for the x-axis, 0 mm (SD, 0.213; SE, 0.058); y-axis, 0.039 mm (SD, 0.035; SE, 0.026); and z-axis, 0.039 mm (SD, 0.051; SE, 0.020).