The fate of femoral windows in revision joint arthroplasty.

We retrospectively reviewed the radiographs of twenty patients in whom a window in the femoral cortex had been created to facilitate revision of a failed total hip replacement with a non-cemented prosthesis, to determine if the window had healed and, if so, how long it had taken. All but three windows showed clear evidence of healing three months postoperatively. At six months, only two windows remained radiographically visible, and at eight months, all of the windows had healed. We concluded that when the section of cortical bone that is removed to create the window is replaced with an uncemented femoral component, the window heals by bone within three to eight months.