Simplified extraction of broken femoral stems. A brief technical note.

A simple and inexpensive technique for extracting the retained distal portion of broken femoral stems is described. After removing the loose prosthetic head fragment and surrounding cement, needle-nosed pliers are used to grab the edges of the exposed distal stem. A vise-grip locking wrench is then applied tightly to the pliers to allow axial extraction with mallet blows.