In vivo wear of titanium-alloy hip prostheses.

We examined samples of tissue and components that had been removed during twenty revisions of total hip arthroplasties in which a titanium-alloy femoral component had been used. Minute amounts of metallic debris were detected in the tissues from two patients. The amounts of polyethylene and methylmethacrylate debris and the histological reactions in the tissues corresponded closely with those reported in earlier studies of total hip prostheses made of stainless steel or cobalt-chromium alloy.