[Treatment of chronic hip dislocation in adults by recentered total prosthesis. Apropos of 43 cases].

Forty-three total hip prostheses were inserted in 33 adults suffering from a chronic high dislocation of the hip. Ten patients had a bilateral arthroplasty. The authors decided to keep in this series only hips presenting with a very considerable upward displacement of the femoral head of type IV in Crowe, Maini and Ranawat's classification. All the hips were treated in the same way with pre-operative planning using template tracings to anticipate problems of length and choice of implant. The acetabular cup was placed in the old acetabulum with downward displacement of the femur. The results were studied in 39 prostheses with a mean follow-up of five-and-a-half years (two years to nine-and-a-half years). The mean age of the patients was 48 and-a-half years (28 to 76 years). A satisfactory result was obtained in 79.5 per cent of cases. The mean downward displacement of the femur was 4.8 cm. Complications included one death from pulmonary embolus, two phlebitides, two fractures of the femoral shaft and four dislocations. There were nos cases of sepsis or neurological complications. The authors advise the use of custom-made implants, consider the tactical problems relative to the opposite hip. It is concluded that the value of the method often lies in the transformation of the life of these young patients by a "functional miracle", but the operative indications need to be considered carefully, since the procedures are sometimes extensive, often difficult and always require technical skill.