Early failure of the Polarstem total hip arthroplasty--can the Australian NJR tell us the full story?

The Australian NJR 2012 has reported that the Polarstem/R3 Total hip arthroplasty has a higher than anticipated revision rate with a three year cumulative percentage of 3%. Out of the 733 Polarstem femoral components, 18 had to be revised within 3 years. Our unit has been using this system since 2009. The aim of this prospective study is to report the clinical outcome of the PolarStem in our cohort of 646 stems with 100% follow up, compared to the Australian registry. Of the 646 hips, 5 returned to theater for a further operation for any reason. The cumulative 3 year survival rate was 99.7%, with revision for any reason as the endpoint. Our 3 year cumulative revision rate for all revisions in the Polarstem femoral stem is 0.15%, which is 20 times less as compared to the 3% reported by the Australian registry.